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Dr. Maurus J6kats Novels
The Green Booh
Black Diamonds
Pretty Michal
The Lion of Janina
A Hungarian Nabob
Dr. Dumany's Wife
The Poor Plutocrats
The Nameless Castle
Debts of Honor
The Day of Wrath
Eyes Like the Sea
Halil the Pedlar (The White Rose)
'Midst the Wild Carpathians
The Slaves of the Padishah.
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THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH
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NEW 4 RECENT FICTION.
Crown 8tv, 6/.
The Slaves of the Padi-
shah, or, "The Turks in
Hungary." By Maurus J6*kai.
The Daughter of the
Dawn*
By Reginald Hoddbr. Illustrated
by Harold Pippard.
'Neath the Hoof of the
Tartar, or, "The Scourge
of God." By Baron Nicholas
Josika. Translated by Sbi.ina
Gaye. With Preface by R. Nisbet
Bain.
The Golden Dwarf*
By R. Norman Silver.
More Tales from Tolstoi*
Translated from the Russian by R.
Nisbet Bain. With Biography
brought up to date.
Distant Lamps
By Jessie Rbuss.
The Jest of Fate.
By Paul Lawrence Dunbar.
Over Stony Ways* A
Romance of Tennyson-Land. By
Emily M. Bryant.
liege Lady*
By Lilian S. Arnold.
Fourth Edition.
Tales from Tolstoi*
Translated from the Russian by R.
Nisbet Bain. With Biography of
Count Leo Tolstoi.
Sixth Edition.
Tales from Gorky*
Translated fiom the Russian of
Maxim Gorky by R. Nisbet Bain.
Halil the Pedlar.
By Maurus Iorai. Translated by
R. Nisbet Bain.
Autumn Glory*
By Rene Bazin. Translated by
Ellen Waugh.
LONDON: JARROLD & SONS,
10 A ii v Warwick Lane, B.C.
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#r
topo
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/
: ■■ , ?>.•;..
THE
Slaves of the Padishah
(" The Turks in Hungary," being the Sequel to
" 'Midst the Wild Carpathians n )
A ROMANCE
Maurus J6kai
Anther ef " 'Midst the Wild Carpathians? ''Black Diamonds?
" Pretty Michal? etc.
Translated from the Sixth Hungarian Kditiun by
R. NiSbET Bain
SANS PEUR ET
SANS REPROCHE
■sfeufe
AT»>>;
THIRD EDITION
LONDON
JAKROLD & SON'S, 10 ^ u, WARWICK LANE, E.G.
[Alt /tights Reserved]
1903
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Sitl
f I ^
*W* VCU? (/*«#****«£* £*"«■
Authorised Version
Copyright
Undon : farrold <5r* So/i*
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE GOLDEN CAFTAN - 9
II. MAIDENS THREE - 17
III. THREE MEN 31
IV. AFFAIRS OF STATE - - 41
V. THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN 52
VI. THE MONK OF THE HOLY SPRING • fj
VII. THE PANIC OF NAGYENYED • 93
VIII. THE SLAVE MARKET AT BUDA-PESTH 103
IX. THE AMAZON BRIGADE 112
X. THE MARGARET ISLAND - - 1X8
XI. A STAR IN HELL 125
XII. THE BATTLE OF ST. GOTHARD • I34
XIII. THE PERSECUTED WOMAN • I54
XIV. OLAJ BEG - - 169
XV. THE WOMEN v 8 DEFENCE I79
XVI. A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD - I93
XVII. THE EXTRAVAGANCES OF LOVE - 2X8
XVIII. SPORT WITH A BLIND MAN - 233
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6 CONTENTS.
CHATTER PACK
XIX. THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH - 237
XX. THE VICTIM - - - 26l
XXI. OTHER TIMES— OTHER MEN 267
XXII. THE DIVAN - - - 276
XXIII. THE TURKISH DEATH - - - 293
XXIV. THE HOSTAGE - - 307
XXV. THE HUSBAND .... 313
XXVI. THE FADING OF FLOWERS - - 321
XXVII. THE SWORD OF GOD - - - 327
XXVIII. THE MADMAN 34°
XXIX. PLEASANT SURPRISES - - - 349
XXX. A MAN ABANDONED BY HIS GUARDIAN- ANGEL 360
XXXI. THE NEWLY DRAWN SWORD - 364
XXXII. THE LAST DAY 37*
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INTRODUCTION.
" TOrOk VilXg MagyarorszAgon," now englished
for the first time, is a sequel to "Az Erd&y arany
kora," already published by Messrs Jarrold, under the
title of " 'Midst the Wild Carpathians." The two tales,
though quite distinct, form together one great historical
romance, which centres round the weakly, good-
natured Michael Apaii, the last independent Prince of
Transylvania, his masterful and virtuous consort, Anna
Bornemissza, and his machiavellian Minister, Michael
Teleki, a sort of pocket-Richelieu, whose genius might
have made a great and strong state greater and
stronger still, but could not save a little state, already
doomed to destruction as much from its geographical
position as from its inherent weakness. The whole
history of Transylvania, indeed, reads like an old
romance of chivalry, cut across by odd episodes out of
" The Thousand and One Nights," and the last phase
of that history (1674-1690), so vividly depicted in the
present volume, is fuller of life, colour, variety, and
adventure than any other period of European history.
The little mountain principality, lying between two
vast aggressive empires, the Ottoman and the German,
ever striving with each other for the mastery of central
Europe, was throughout this period the football of
both. Viewed from a comfortable armchair at a dis-
tance of two centuries, the whole era is curiously
fascinating: to unfortunate contemporaries it must
have been unspeakably terrible. Strange happenings
were bound to be the rule, not the exception, when a
Turkish Pasha ruled the best part of Hungary from
the bastions of Buda. Thus it was quite in the regular
order of things for Hungarian gentlemen to join with
notorious robber-chieftains to attack Turkish for-
tresses; for bandits, in the disguise of monks, to
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8 INTRODUCTION.
plunder lonely monasteries ; for simple boors to be
snatched from the plough to be set upon a throne ;
for Christian girls, from every country under heaven,
to be sold by auction not fifty miles from Vienna, and
for Turkish filibusters to plant fortified harems in
the midst of the Carpathians. J6kai, luckier than
Dumas, had no need to invent his episodes, though he
frequently presents them in a romantic environment
He found his facts duly recorded in contemporary
chronicles, and he had no temptation to be unfaithful
to them, because the ordinary, humdrum incidents of
every-day life in seventeenth century Transylvania
outstrip the extravagances of the most unbridled
imagination.
No greater praise can be awarded to the workman-
ship of J6kai than to say that, although written
half a century ago (the first edition was published in
I 853)> "Torok Vildg Magyarorszigon does not
strike one as in the least old-fashioned or out of date.
Romantic it is, no doubt, in treatment as well as in sub-
ject, but a really good romance never grows old, and
J6kai's unfailing humour is always — at least, in his
masterpieces — a sufficient corrective of the excessive *
sensibility to which, like all the romanticists, he
is, by temperament, sometimes liable.
Most of the characters which delighted us in " 'Midst
the Wild Carpathians" accompany us through the
sequel The Prince, the Princess, the Minister, B61di,
Kucsuk, Feriz, Azrael, and even such minor person-
ages as the triple renegade, Ziilfikar, are all here, and
remain true to their original presentment, except
Azrael, who is the least convincing of them all. Of
the new personages, the most original are the
saponaceous Olaj Beg, whose unctuous suavity always
conveys a menace, and the heroic figure of the famous
Emeric Tokoly, who, but for the saving sword of
Sobieski, might have wrested the crown of St Stephen
from the House of Hapsburg.
R. Nisbet Bain.
December, 1902.
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The Slaves of the Padishah.
CHAPTER I.
THE GOLDEN CAFTAN.
THE S family was one of the richest in Wallachia,
and consequently one of the most famous. The head
of the family dictated to twelve boyars, collected
hearth-money and tithes from four-and-fifty villages,
lived nine months in the year at Stambul, held the
Sultan's bridle when he mounted his steed in time
of war, contributed two thousand lands-knechts to
the host of the Pasha of Macedonia, and had per-
mission to keep on his slippers when he entered the
inner court of the Seraglio.
In the year 1600 and something, George was the
name of the first-born of the S family, but with
him we shall not have very much concern. We shall do
much better to follow the fortunes of the second born,
Michael, whom his family had sent betimes to
Bucharest to be brought up as a priest in the
Seminary there. The youth had, however, a remark-
ably thick head, and, so far from making any great
progress in the sciences, was becoming quite an
ancient classman, when he suddenly married the
daughter of a sub-deacon, and buried himself in a
little village in Wallachia- There he spent a good
many years of his life with scarce sufficient stipend
to clothe him decentlv, and had he not tilled his soil
with his own hands, ne would have been hard put to
it to find maize-cakes enough to live upoa
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io THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
In the first year of his marriage a little girl was
born to him, and for her the worthy man and his wife
spared and scraped so that, in case they were to die,
she might have some little trifle. So they laid aside
a few halfpence out of every shilling in order that
when it rose to a good round sum they might purchase
for their little girl — a cow.
A cow! That was their very ultimate desire. If
only they could get a cow, who would be happier
than they? Milk and butter would come to their table
in abundance, and they would be able to give some
away besides. Her calf they would rear and sell to
the butcher for a good price, stipulating for a quarter
of it against the Easter festival. Then, too, a cow
would give so much pleasure to the whole family. In
the morning they would be giving it drink, rubbing
it down, leading it out into the field, and its little
bell would be sounding all day in the pasture. In the
evening it would come into the yard, keeping close
to the wall, where the mulberry-tree stood, and poke
its head through the kitchen door. It would have a
star upon its forehead, and would let you scratch its
head and stroke its neck, and would take the piece
of maize-cake that little Mariska held out to it She
would be able to lead the cow everywhere. This
was the Utopia of the family, its every-day desire,
and Papa had already planted a mulberry-tree in the
yard in order that Cs4k6, that was to be the cow's
name, might have something to rub his side against,
and little Mariska every day broke, off a piece of
maize-cake and hid it under the window-silL The
little calf would have a fine time of it
And lo and behold! when the halfpennies and
farthings had mounted up to such a heap that they
already began to think of going to the very next
market to bring home the cow ; when every day they
could talk of nothing else, and kept wondering what
the cow would be like, brindled, or brown, or white, or
spotted ; when they had already given it its name
beforehand, and had prepared a leafy bed for it close
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THE GOLDEN CAFTAN. n
to the house — it came to pass that a certain vagabond
Turkish Sheikh shot dead the elder brother, who
was living in Stambul, because he accidentally touched
the edge of the holy man's garment in the street.
So the poor priest received one day a long letter from
Adrianople, in which he was informed that he had
succeeded his brother as head of the family, and,
from that hour, was the happy possessor of an annual
income of 70,000 ducats.
I wonder whether they wept for that cow, which
they never brought home after all?
Mr. Michael immediately left his old dwelling,
travelled with his family all the way to Bucharest
in a carriage (it was the first time in his life he had
ever enjoyed that dignity), went through the family
archives, and entered into possession of his immense
domain, of whose extent he had had no idea before.
The old family mansion was near Rumnik, whither
Mr. Michael also repaired. The house was dilapi-
dated and neglected, its former possessors having
lived constantly abroad, only popping in occasionally
to see how things were going on. Nevertheless, it
was a palace to the new heir, who, after the experience
of his parrow hovel, could hardly accommodate him-
self to the large, barrack-like rooms, and finally con-
tented himself with one half of it, leaving the other
wing quite empty, as he didn't know what to do
with it
Having been accustomed throughout the prime of
his life to deprivation and the hardest of hard work,
that state of things had become such a second nature
to him, that, when he became a millionaire, he had not
much taste for anything better than maize-cakes, and
it was high festival with him when fu/iseka* was put
upon the table.
On the death of his wife, he sent his daughter on
foot to the neighbouring village to learn her alphabet
from the cantor, and two heydukes accompanied her
* A sort of maize pottage.
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ia THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
lest the dogs should worry her on the way. When
his daughter grew up, he entrusted her with the house-
keeping and the care of the kitchen. Very often some
young and flighty boyar would pass through the place
from the neighbouring village, and very much would
he have liked to have taken the girl off with him, if
only her father would give her away. And all this
time Mr. Michael's capital began to increase so out-
rageously that he himself began to be afraid of it It
had come to this, that he could not spend even a
thousandth part of his annual income, and, puzzle his
head as he might, he could not turn it over quickly
enough. He had now whole herds of cows, he bought
pigs by the thousand, but everything he touched
turned to money, and the capital that he invested
came back to him in the course of the year with com-
pound interest The worthy man was downright
desperate when he thought upon his treasure-heaps
multiplying beyond all his expectations. How to
enjoy them he knew not, and yet he did not wish
to pitch them away.
He would have liked to have played the grand
seignior, if only thereby to get rid of some of his
money, but the r61e did not suit him at alL If, for
instance, he wanted to build a palace, there was so
much calculating how, in what manner, and by whom
it could be built most cheaply, that it scarce cost him
anything at all, but then it never turned out a palace.
Or if he wanted to give a feast, it was easy enough
to select the handsomest of the boyars for "his guests.
Whatever was necessary for the feast — wine, meat,
bread, honey, and sack-pipers — was supplied in such
abundance from his own magazines and villages, that
he absolutely despaired to think how it was that his
ancestors had not only devoured their immense
estates, but had even piled up debts upon them. To
him this remained an insoluble problem, and after
bothering his head for a long time as to what he
should do with his eternally accumulating capital, he
at last hit upon a good idea. The spacious garden
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THE GOLDEN CAFTAN. 13
surrounding his crazy castle had, by his especial com-
mand, been planted with all sorts of rare and pleasant
plants — like basil, lavender, wild saffron, hops, and
gourds — over whom a tenant had been promoted as
gardener to look after them. One year the garden
produced such gigantic gourds, that each one was as
big as a pitcher. The astonished neighbours came in
crowds to gaze at then^ and the promoted ex-boyar
swore a hundred times that such gourds as these
the Turkish Sultan himself had not seen all his life
"■ft
This gave Master Michael an idea. He made up
his mind that he would send one of these gourds to
the Sultan as a present So he selected the finest and
roundest of them^ of a beautiful flesh-coloured rind,
encircled by dark-green stripes, with a turban-shaped
cap at the top of it, and, boring a little hole through
it, drew out the pulp and filled it instead with good
solid ducats of the finest stamp, and placing it on his
best six-oxened wagon, he selected his wisest tenant,
and, dinning well into his head where to go, what to
say, and to whom to say it, sent him off with the great
gourd to the Sublime Porte at Stambul.
It took the cart three weeks to get to Constan-
tinople.
The good, worthy farmer, upon declaring that he
brought gifts for the Grand Seignior, was readily
admitted into the presence, and after kissing the hem
of the Padishah's robe, drew the bright cloth away
from the presented pumpkin and deposited it in
front of the DivaiL
The Sultan flew into a violent rage at the sight of
the gift
u Cost thou take me for a swine, thou unbelieving
dog, that thou bringest me a gourd? " cried he.
And straightway he commanded the Kiaja Beg to
remove both the gourd and the man. The gourd he
was to dash to pieces on the ground, the bringer of
the gourd was to have dealt unto him a hundred
stripes on the soles of his feet, but the sender of the
gourd was to lose his head.
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i 4 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
The Kiaja Beg did as he was commanded He
banged the gourd down in the courtyard outside, and
behold! a stream of shining ducats gushed out of it
instead of the pulp. Nevertheless, faithful above all
things to his orders, he had the poor farmer flung
down on his face, and gave him such a sound hundred
stripes on the soles ot his feet that he had no wish
for any more.
Immediately afterwards he hastened to inform the
Sultan that the gourd had been dashed to the
ground, the hundred blows with the stick duly paid,
the silken cord ready packed, but that the gourd was
full of ducats.
At these words the countenance of the Grand
Seignior grew serene once more, like the smiling
summer sky, and after ordering that the silken cord
should be put back in its place, he commanded that
the most magnificent of caftans should be distributed
both to the bastinadoed farmer and to the boyar who
had sent the gift, and that they should both be assured
of the gracious favour of the Padishah.
The former had sufficient sense when he arrived
at Bucharest to sell the gay garment he had received
to a huckster in the bazaar, .but his master's present
he carefully brought home, and, after informing him
of the unpleasant incident concerning himself,
delivered to him his present, together with a gracious
letter from the Sultan.
Master Michael was delighted with the return gift
He put on the long caftan, which reached to his
heels, and was made of fine dark-red Thibetan stuff,
embroidered with gold and silken flowers. Gold lace
and galloon, as broad as your hand, were piled up
on the sleeves, shoulder, and back, to such an extent
that the original cloth was scarcely visible, and the
hem of the caftan was most wondrously embroidered
with splendid tulips, green, blue, and lilac roses, and
all sorts of tinsel and precious stones.
Master Michael felt himself quite another man in
this caf tan. The Sultan had sent him a letter. The
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THE GOLDEN CAFTAN. 15
Sultan had plainly written to him that he was to
wear this caftan* This, therefore, was a command, and
it was possible that the Sultan might turn up to-
morrow or the next day to see whether he was wearing
this caftan, and would be angry if he hadn't got it
on. He must needs therefore wear it continually.
But this golden caftan did not go at all well with
his coarse fur jacket, nor with his wooden sandals
and lambskin cap. He was therefore obliged to send
to Tergoviste for a tailor who should make him a
silk dolman, vest, and embroidered stockings to match
the golden caftan. He also sent to Kronstadt for a
tasselled girdle, to Braila for shoes and morocco
slippers, and to Tekas for an ermine kalpag with a
heron's plume in it
Of course, now that he was so handsomely dressed,
it was quite out of the question for him to sit in a ram-
shackle old carriage, or to bestride a fifty-thaler nag.
He therefore ordered splendid chargers to be sent
to him from Bessarabia, and had a gilded coach
made for him in Transylvania ; and when the carriage
and the horses were there, he could not put them into
the muddy wagon-shed and the sparrow-frequented,
rush-thatched stable, but had to make good stone
coach-houses and stables expressly for them Now, it
would have looked very singular, and, in fact, dis-
gusting, if the stable and coach-house had been better
than the castle, whose shingle roof was a mass of
variegated patches and gaping holes where the
mortar had fallen out and left the bricks bare; so
there was nothing for it but to pull down the old castle,
and to order his steward to build up a new one in
its place, and make it as beautiful and splendid as his
fancy could suggest
Thus the whole order of the world he lived in was
transformed by a golden caftan.
The steward embellished the castle with golden
lattices, turrets, ornamental porches and winding
staircases ; put conservatories in the garden, planted
projecting rondelles and soaring belvederes at the
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16 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
corners of the castle and a regular tower in the middle
of it, and painted all the walls and ceilings inside with
green forests and crooked-beaked birds.
Of course, he couldn't put inside such a place as
this the old rustic furniture and frippery, so he had
to purchase the large, high, shining hump-backed
arm-chairs, the gold-stamped leather sofas, and the
lion-legged marble tables which were then at the
'height of fashion.
Of course, Turkey carpets had to be laid on the
floor, and silver candelabra and beakers placed upon
the magnificent tables ; and in order that these same
Turkey carpets might not be soiled by the muddy
boots of farmyard hinds, a whole series of new
servants had to be invented, such as footmen to stand
behind the new carriage, cooks for the kitchen, and
a special gardener for the conservatories, who, instead
of looking after the honest, straightforward citron-
trees and pumpkins, had gingerly to plant out cactuses
and Egyptian thistles like dry stalks, in pots, whence,
also, it came about that as there was now a regular
gardener and a regular cook, pretty Mariska had no
longer any occasion to concern herself either with
garden or kitchen, nor did she ,go any more to the
village rector to learn reading or writing, but they
had to get her a French governess from whom she
learnt good taste, elegant manners, embroidery, and
harp-strumming.
And all these things were the work of the golden
caftan !
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CHAPTER II.
MAIDENS THREE.
The family banner had scarce been hoisted on to the
high tower of the new castle, the rumour of Mariska's
loveliness and her father's millions had scarce been
spread abroad, when the courtyard began to be all
ablaze with the retinues and equipages of the most
eminent zhupans>* voivodes,t and princes; but
Master Michael had resolved within himself before-
hand that nobody less than the reigning Prince of
Moldavia should ever receive his daughter's hand,
and stolidly he kept to his resolution.
Now the reigning Prince of Moldavia no doubt
had an illustrious name enough, but he also had
inherited a very considerable load of debt, and what
with the eternal exactions of the Tartars, and the
presents expected by all the leading Pashas, and other
disturbing causes, he saw his people growing poorer
and poorer, and his own position becoming more and
more precarious every year. He therefore did not
keep worthy Master Michael waiting very long when '
he heard, on excellent authority, that there was being
reserved for him in Walladhia a beautiful and accom-
plished virgin, who would bring to her husband a
dowry of a couple of millions* in addition to an un-
corrupted heart and an old ancestral title.
So, gathering together all the boyars, retainers, and
officers of his court, he set off a-wooing to Rumnik,
where he was well received by the father, satisfied
* A Servian Prince. t A Roumanian Prince.
B
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18 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
himself as to the young lady's good graces, demanded
her hand in marriage, and, allowing an adequate delay
for the preliminaries of the wedding, fixed the glad
event for the first week after Easter.
Master Michael, meantime, could think of nothing
else but how he could cut as magnificent a figure as
possible on the occasion. He invited to the banquet
all the celebrities in Moldavia, Servia, Bosnia, and
Transylvania. He did not even hesitate to hire from
Versailles one of Louis XIV.'s cooks, to regulate the
order and quality of the dishes. On the day of the
banquet the good gentleman was visible everywhere,
and saw to everything himself. Quite early, arrayed
in the golden caftan, the heron-plumed kalpag, and
the tasselled girdle, he strutted about the courtyard,
corridors and chambers, distributing his orders and
receiving his guests ; and his heart fluttered when he
beheld the courtyard filling with carriages, each one
more brilliant than its predecessor, escorted by gold-
bedizened cavaliers, from which silver-laced hey-
dukes assisted noble ladies, in splendid pearl-
embroidered costumes, to descend. There was such
a rustling of silk dresses, such a rattling of swords,
and such an endless procession of elegant and mag-
nificent forms up the staircase, as to make the heart of
the beholder rejoice.
Master Michael rushed hither and thither, and
pride and humility were strangely blended on his
face. He assured all he welcomed how happy they
made him by honouring his poor dwelling with their
presence ; but the voice with which he said this be-
trayed the conviction that not one of his guests had
quitted a home as splendid as his own poor
dwelling.
Then he plunged into the robing-chamber of the
bride, where tire-women, fetched Si the way from
Vienna, had been decking out Mariska from early
dawn. It gave them no end of trouble to adjust her
jewels and her gewgaws, and if they had heaped upon
die fair bride all that her father had purchased for her.
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MAIDENS THREE. 19
she would have been unable to move beneath the
weight of her gems.
Thence the good man rushed off to the banqueting-
room, where his domestics had been busy making
ready two rows of tables in five long halls.
" Here shall sit the bride ! That arm-chair to the
right of her is for the Patriarch — it is his proper
place. On the left will sit Prince Michael Apan. He
is to have the green-embossed chair, with the golden
cherubim. The bridegroom will sit on the right hand
of the Patriarch. You must give him that round, arn>-
less seat, so that he cannot lean back, but must hold
himself proudly erect Over there you must place
Paul B61di and his spouse, for they are always wont
to sit together. Their daughter Aranka will also be
there, and she must sit between them on that little
blue velvet stool Opposite to them the silk sofa is
for Achmed Pasha and Feriz Beg, recollect that they
won't want knife or fork. The Dean must have that
painted stone bench, for a wooden bench would break
beneath him, and no chair will hold him. The three-
and-thirty priests must be placed all together over
there — you must put none else beside them, or they
would be ashamed to eat Don't forget to pile up
wreaths of flowers on the silver salvers ; and remem-
ber there are peculiar reasons for not placing a pitcher
of wine before Michael Teleki. Achmed Pasha must
have a sherbet-bowl placed beside the can from which
he drinks his wine, and then folks will fancy he is
not transgressing the Koran. Place goblets of
Venetian crystal before the ladies, and golden
beakers before the gentlemen, the handsomest before
Teleki and Bethlen, the commoner sort before the
others, as they are wont to dash them against the
walls. The bridegroom should have the slenderest
beaker of all, for he'll have to pledge everyone, and I
want no harm to befall him. Mind what I say ! "
Nearly all the wedding guests had now assembled
Only two families were still expected, the Apafis and
the Telekis, whom Master Michael in his pride wished
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20 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
to see at his table most of all He glanced impatiently
into the courtyard every time he heard the roll of
a carriage, and the staircase lacqueys had strict
injunctions to let him know as soon as they saw the
Prince's carriage approaching.
At last the rumblipg of wheels was heard. Master
Michael went all the way to the gate to receive his
fuests, shoving aside all the vehicles in his way, and
awling to the sentinels on the tower to blow the
trumpets as soon as ever they beheld the carriage on
the road. The goodly host of guests also thronged
the balconies, the turrets, and the iondelks, to catch
a glance at the new arrivals, and before very long
two carriages, each drawn by four horses, turned the
corner of the well-wooded road, carriages supported
on each side by footmen, lest they should topple over,
and escorted by a brilliant banderium of prancing
horsemen.
They were instantly recognised as the carriages of
the Prince and his Prime Minister, and the voices of
the trumpets never ceased till the splendid, gilded,
silk-curtained vehicles had lumbered into the court-
yard, although the master of the castle was already
awaiting them at the outer, sculptured gate, and him-
self hastened to open the carriage door, doffing first
of all his ermine kalpag. But he popped it on again,
considerably nonplussed, when, on opening the
carriage, a beardless bit of a boy, to all appearance,
leapt out of it all alone, and there was not a trace of
the Prince to be seen in the carriage. PerEaps he had
dismounted at the foot of the hill in order to complete
the journey on foot, as Master Michael himself was
in the habit of doing every time he took a drive in
his coach, for fear of an accident.
But the youthful jack-in-the-box lost no time in
dispelling all rising suspicions by quickly introducing
himself.
" I am Emeric Tokoly," said he, * whom his High-
ness the Prince has sent to your Worship as his repre-
sentative to take part in the festivities, and at the same
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MAIDENS THREE. 21
time to express his regret that he was not able to
appear personally, but only to send his hearty con-
gratulations, inasmuch as her Highness the Princess
is just now in good hopes, by the grace of God, of
presenting her consort with an heir, and consequently
his Highness does not feel himself capable of
enduring the amenities which under these circum-
stances Ali Pasha might at such a time think fit to
force upon him. Nevertheless he wishes your Worship,
with God's will, all imaginable felicity."
Master Michael did not exactly know whether to
say "lam very glad " or " I am very sorry ;" and in
the meanwhile, to gain time, was turning towards
the second carriage, when Emeric Tokoly suddenly
intercepted him.
"I was also to inform your Worship that his
Excellency Michael Teleki, having unexpectedly
received the command to invade Hungary with all
the forces of Transylvania, has sent, instead of him-
self, his daughter Flora to do honour to your Worship,
much regretting that, because of the command afore-
said, which will brook neither objection nor delay, he
has been obliged to deny himself the pleasure
personally to press your Worship's hand and exchange
the warm kiss of kinsmanship ; but if your Worship
will entrust me with both the handshake and the kiss,
I will give your Worship his and take back to him
your Worship's."
The good old gentleman was absolutely delighted
with the young man's patriarchal idea, forgot the sour
and solemn countenance which he had expressly put
on in honour of the Prince, and, falling on the neck
of the graceful young gentleman, hugged and kissed
him so emphatically that the latter could scarcely free
himself from his embraces ; then, taking Flora Teleki,
the youth's reported fiancie, on one arm> and Emeric
himself on the other, he conducted them in this guise
among his other guests, and they were the first to
whom he introduced bis daughter in all her bridal
array.
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22 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
A stately, slender brunette was Mariska, her
face as pale as a lily, her eyes timidly cast down, as,
leaning on her lady companion's arm> and tricked out
in her festal costume, she appeared before the
expectant multitude. The beauty of her rich black
velvet tresses was enhanced by interwoven strings
of real pearls ; her figure, whose tender charms were
insinuated rather than indicated by her splendid
oriental dress, would not have been out of place
among a group of Naiads ; and that superb carriage,
those haughty eyebrows, those lips of hers full of the
promise of pleasure, suited very well with her bashful
looks and timid movements.
•" Amongst the army of guests there was one man
who towered above the others — tall muscular, with
broad shoulders, dome-like breast, and head proudly
erect, whose long locks, like a rich black pavilion,
flowed right down over his shoulders. His thick dark
eyebrows and his coal-black moustache gave an
emphatically resolute expression to his dark olive-
coloured face, whose profile had an air of old Roman
distinction.
This was the bridegroom, Prince Ghyka.
When the father of the bride introduced the new
arrivals to the other guests, his first action was to
present them to Prince Ghyka, not forgetting to
relate how courteously the young Count had executed
his commission as to the transfer of the kisses, which,
having been received with general hilarity, suggested
a peculiarly bold idea to the flighty young man.
While he was being embraced by one after the
other, and passed on from hand to hand so to speak,
he suddenly stood before the trembling bride, who
scarce dared to cast a single furtive look upon him,
and, greeting her in the style of the most chivalrous
French courtesy, at the same time turning towards
the bystanders with a proud, not to say haughty
smile, pardonable in him alone, said, with an amiable
mbandon: "Inasmuch as I have been solemnly
authorised to be the bearer of kisses, I imagine I
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MAIDENS THREE. 23
shall be well within my rights if I deliver personally
the kisses which my kinswomen, Princess Apafi and
Dame Teleki have charged me to convey to the
bride."
And before anyone had quite taken in the meaning
of his concluding words, the handsome youth, with
that fascinating impertinence with which he was wont
to subdue men and women alike, bent over the
charming bride, and while her face blushed for a
moment scarlet red, imprinted a noiseless kiss upon
her pure marble forehead. And this he did with
such grace, with such tender sprightliness, that nothing
worse than a light smile appeared upon the most
rigorous faces present
Then, turning to the company with a proud smile
of self -confidence on his face : " I hope," said he,
tucking Flora Teleki's hand under his arm, " that the
presence of my fiancie is a sufficient guarantee of
the respect with which I have accomplished this item
of my mission."
At this there was a general outburst of laughter
amongst the guests. Any sort of absurdity could be
forgiven Emeric, for he managed even his most
practical jokes so amiably that it was impossible to
be angry with him.
But the cheeks of two damsels remained rosy-red
— Mariska's and Flora's. Women don't understand
that sort of joke
The bridegroom, half-smiling, half-angry, stroked
his fine moustache. " Come, come, my lad " said he,
M you have been quicker in kissing my bride than I
have been myself."
But now the reverend gentlemen intervened, the
bells rang, the bridesmaids and the best men took
possession of the bride and bridegroom, the ceremony
began, and nobody thought any more of the circum-
stance, except, perhaps, two damsels, whose hearts
had been pricked by the thoughtless pleasantry, one
of them as by the thorn of a rose, the other as by the
sting of a serpent
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24 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
And now, while for the next hour and a half the
marriage ceremony, with the assistance of the Most
Reverend Patriarch, the Venerable Archdeacon, three-
and-thirty reverend gentlemen of the lower clergy,
and just as many secular dignitaries, is solemnly and
religiously proceeding, we will remain behind in the
ante-chamber, and be indiscreet enough to worm out
the contents of the two well-sealed letters which have
just been brought in hot haste from Kronstadt for
Emeric Tokoly by a special courier, who stamped his
foot angrily when he was told that he must wait till
the Count came out of church.
One of the letters was from Michael Teleki, and
its contents pretty much as follows: —
" My dear Sir and Son,
" Our affairs are in the best possible order.
During the last few days our army, 9,000 strong,
quitting Gyulafehervdr, has gone to await Achmed
Pasha's forces near D6va, and will thence proceed
to unite with Kiuprile's host War, indeed, is
inevitable; and Transylvania must be gloriously in
the forefront of it Do not linger where you are, but
try and overtake us. It would -be superfluous for me
to remind you to take charge of my daughter Flora
on the way. God bless you.
"Michael Teleki.
" Datum Alba Julia.
"P.S. — Her Highness the Princess awaits a safe
delivery from the mercy of God. His Highness the
Prince has just finished a very learned dissertation
on the orbits of the planets."
The second letter was in a fine feminine script, but
one might judge from it that that hand knew how to
handle a sword as well as a pen.
It was to the following effect: —
" My dear Friend,
" I have received your letter, and this is my
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MAIDENS THREE. 25
answer to it. I can give you no very credible news
in writing, either about myself or the affairs of the
realm. A lover can do everything and sacrifice every-
thing, even to life itself, for his love. (You will under-
stand that this reference to love refers not to me, a
mournful widow, but to another mournful widow, who
is also your mother.) I do not judge men by what
they say, but by what they do. All the same, I have
every reason to think well of you, and I shall be
delighted if the future should justify my good opinion
of you.
"Your faithful servant,
" lLONA.
"P.S. — I shall spend midsummer at the baths of
Mehadia"
The noble bridal retinue, merrily conversing, now
returned from the chapel to the castle, the very
sensible arrangement obtaining, that when the guests
sat down to table each damsel was to be escorted to
her seat by a selected cavalier known to be not dis-
pleasing to her. The only exceptions to this rule were
the right reverend brigade, and Achmed Pasha and
Feriz Beg, the two Turkish magnates present, whose
grave dignity restrained them from participating in
this innocent species of gallantry.
First of all, as the representative of the Prince of
Transylvania, came Emeric Tokoly, conducting the
aged mother of the bridegroom, the Princess Ghyka ;
after him came Paul B61di, leading the bride by the
hand. B61di's wife was escorted by the master of the
house, and her pretty little golden-haired daughter
Aranka hung upon her left arm.
Feriz Beg was standing in the vestibule with a
grave countenance till Aranka appeared The little
girl, on perceiving the youth, greeted him kindly,
whereupon Feriz sighed deeply, and followed
her. The bridegroom led the beautiful Flora Teleki
by the hand.
On reaching the great hall, the company broke up
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26 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
into groups, the merriest of which was that which
included Flora, Mariska, and Aranka.
"Be seated, ladies and gentlemen! be seated !"
cried the strident voice of the host, who, full of proud
self-satisfaction, ran hither and thither to see that
all the guests were in the places assigned to them.
Tokoly was by the side of Mariska, opposite to them
sat the bridegroom, with Flora Teleki by his side.
Aranka was the vis-d-vis of Feriz Beg.
The banquet began. The endless loving-cup went
round, the faces of the guests grew ever Cheerier,
the bride conversed in whispers with her handsome
neighbour. Opposite to them the bridegroom, with
equal courtesy, exchanged from time to time a word
with the fair Flora, but the conversation thus begun
broke down continually, and yet both the lady and
the prince were persons of culture, and had no lack
of mother-wit But their minds were far away. Their
lips spoke unconsciously, and the Prince grew ever
gloomier as he saw his bride plunging ever more
deeply into the merry chatter of her gay companion,
and try as he might to entertain his own partner, the
resounding laughter of the happy pair opposite drove
the smile from his face, especially when Flora also
grew absolutely silent, so that the bridegroom was
obliged, at last, to turn to the Patriarch, who was
sitting on his right, and converse with him about
terribly dull matters.
Meanwhile, a couple of Servian musicians began,
to the accompaniment of a zithern, to sing one of
their sad, monotonous, heroic songs. All this time
Achmed Pasha had never spoken a word, but now,
fired by the juice of the grape mediatized by his
sherbet-bowl, he turned towards the singers and,
beckoning them towards him, said in a voice not unlike
a growl:
" Drop all that martial jumble and sing us instead
something from one of our poets, something from
Hariri the amorous, something from Gulestan ! n
At these words the face of Feriz Beg, who sat
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MAIDENS THREE. 27
beside him, suddenly went a fiery red — why, he could
not have told for the life of him,
"Do you know 'The Lover's Complaint,' for
instance? " inquired the Pasha of the musician.
" I know the tune, but the verses have quite gone
out of my head."
" Oh ! as to that, Feriz Beg here will supply you
with the words quickly enough if you give him a piece
of parchment and a pen."
Feriz Beg was preparing to object, with the sole
result that all the women were down upon him imme-
diately, and 'begged and implored him for the beau-
tiful song. So he surrendered, and, tucking up the
long sleeve of his dolman, set the writing materials
before him and began to write.
They who drink no wine are nevertheless wont to
be intoxicated by the glances erf bright eyes, and
Feriz, as he wrote, glanced from time to time at the
fair face of Aranka, who cast down her forget-me-not
eyes shamefacedly at his friendly smile. So Feriz
Beg wrote the verses and handed them to the
musicians, and then everyone bade his neighbour
hush and listen with all his ears.
The musician ran his fingers across the strings of
his zithern, and then began to sing the song of the
Turkish poet:
" Three lovely maidens I see, three maidens embracing each
other;
Gentle, and burning, and bright — Sun, Moon, and Star I
declare them.
Let others adore Son and Moon, but give me my Star, my
beloved!"
" When the Son leaves the heavens, her adorers are whelmed
in dumber;
When the Moon quits the sky, sleep falls on the eyes of her
lovers.
But the fall of the Star is the death of the man who adores
her—
And oh ! if my load-star doth fall, Machallah ! I cease from
the living ! "
General applause rewarded the song, which it was
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28 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
difficult to believe had not been made expressly for
the occasion,
" Who would think," said Paul B61di to the Pasha,
" that your people not only cut darts from reeds, but
pens also^ pens worthy of the poets of love? "
" Oh ! " replied Achmed, " in the hands of our poets,
blades and harps are equally good weapons ; and if
they bound the laurel-wreath round the brows of
Hariri it was only to conceal the wounds which he
received in battle."
When the banquet was over, Tokoly, with
courteous affability, parted from his fair neighbour,
whom he immediately saw disappear in a window
recess, arm-in-arm with Flora. He himself made the
circuit of the table in order that he might meet the
fair Aranka, but was stopped in mid-career by his
host, who was so full of compliments that by the
time Tokoly reached the girl, he found her leaning
on her mother's arm engaged in conversation with
the Prince. Aranka, feeling herself out of danger
when she had only a married man to deal with, had
quite regained her childish gaiety, and was making
merry with the bridegroom.
Tokoly, with insinuating grace, wormed his way
into the group, and gradually succeeded in so corner-
ing the rrince, that he was obliged to confine his
conversation to Dame B61di, while Tokoly himself
was fortunate enough to make Aranka laugh again
and again at his droll sallies.
The Prince was boiling over with venom, and was
on the verge of forgetting himself and exploding with
rage. Fortunately, Dame B61di, observing in time
the tension between the two men, curtseyed low to
them both, and withdrew from the room with her
daughter. Whereupon, the Prince seized Tokol/s
hand, and said to him with choleric jocosity : * If
your Excellency's own bride is not sufficient for you,
will you at least be satisfied with throwing in mine,
and do not try to sweep every girl you see into your
butterfly-net? "
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MAIDENS THREE. 29
Tokoly quite understood the bitter irony of these
words, and replied, with a soft but offensively con-
descending smile : " My dear friend, your theory of
life is erroneous. I see, from your face, that you are
suffering from an overflow of bile. You have not
had a purge lately, or been blooded for a long
time."
The Prince's face darkened. He squeezed Tokol/s
hand convulsively, and murmured between his teeth :
" One way is as good as another. When shall we
settle this little affair? "
Tokoly shrugged his shoulders. "To-morrow
morning, if you like."
" Very well, we'll meet by the cross."
The two men had spoken so low that nobody in
the whole company had noticed them, except Feriz
Beg; who, although standing at the extreme end of
the room with folded arms, had followed with his
eagle eyes every play of feature, every motion of the
lips of the whole group, including Dame B&di and
the girl, and who now, on observing the two men
grasp each other's hands, and part from each other
with significant looks, suddenly planted himself before
them, and said simply: "Do you want to fight a
duel because of Aranka? "
"What a question?" said the Prince evasively.
" It will not be a duel," said Feriz, " for there will
be three of us there," and, with that, he turned away
and departed.
" How foolish these solemn men are," said Tokoly
to himself, "they are always seeking sorrow for
themselves. It would require only a single word to
make them merry, and, in spite of all I do, they will
go and spoil a joke. Why, such a duel as this — all
three against each other, and each one against the
other two — was unknown even to the famous Round
Table and to the Courts of Love. It will be splendid"
At that moment the courier, who had brought the
letters, forced his way right up to Tokoly, and said
that he had got two important despatches for him
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30 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
" All right, keep them for me, I'll read them to-
morrow. I won't spoil the day with tiresome business."
And so he kept it up till late at night with the
merriest of the topers. Only after midnight did he
return to his room, and ordered the soldier who had
brought the letters to wake him as soon as he saw the
red dawn.
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CHAPTER III.
THREE MEN.
T5k6ly i S servant durst not go to sleep on the off-
chance of awaking at dawn in order to arouse his
master, and so the sky had scarcely begun to grow
grey when he routed him up. Emeric hastily dressed
himself. A sort of ill-humour on his pale face was
the sole reminder of the previous night's debauch.
"Here are the letters, sir," said the soldier.
"Leave me in peace with your letters," returned
Emeric roughly, " I have no time now to read your
scribble. Go down and saddle my horse for me, and
tell the coachman to make haste and get the carriage
ready, and have it waiting for me near the cross at the
slope of the hill, and find out on your way down
whether the old master of the house is up yet"
The soldier pocketed the letter once more, and
went down grumbling greatly, while Emeric buckled
on his sword and threw his pelisse over his shoulders.
Soon after the soldier returned and announced that
Master Michael had been up long ago, because many
of his guests had to depart before dawn, amongst
them the Prince, also the Turkish gentleman ; the
bride was to follow them in the afternoon.
" Good," said Emeric ; " let the coachman wait for
me in front of the Dragmuili csarda* You had better
bring with you some cold meat and wine, and we'll
have breakfast on the way." And with that he hastened
* An inn.
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32 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
to the father of the bride, who, after embracing him
heartily and repeatedly, with a great flux of tears,
and kissing him again and again, and sending
innumerable greetings through him to every eminent
Transylvanian gentleman, took an affectionate leave
of him.
Tokoly hastened to bestride his horse on hearing
that his adversaries had been a little beforehand with
him, and, putting spurs to his horse, galloped rapidly
away. Master Michael looked after him in amazement
so long as he could see him racing along the steep,
hilly way, till he disappeared among the woods. A
soldier followed him at a considerable distance.
Emeric, on reaching the cross, found his adversaries
there already. Feriz Beg had brought with him
Achmed Pasha's field-surgeon Tokoly had only
thought of breakfast, the Prince had thought of
nothing.
" Good morning," cried the Count, leaping from
his horse. The Beg returned his salute with a solemn
obeisance; the Prince turned his back upon him.
" Let us go into the forest to find a nice clear space,"
said Tokoly; and off he set in silence, leading the
way, while the soldiers followed at some distance,
leading the horses by the bridles.
After going about a hundred yards they came to a
clear space, surrounded by some fine ash-trees. The
Prince signified to the soldiers to stop here, and, with-
out a word, began to take off his dolman and mantle
and tuck up his sleeves.
It was a fine sight to behold these men — all three
of them were remarkably handsome fellows. The
Prince was one of those vigorous, muscular shapes,
whom Nature herself seems specially to have created
to head a host As he rolled up the flapping sleeves
of his gold-embroidered, calf-skin shirt, he displayed
muscles capable of holding their own single-handed
against a whole brigade, and the defiant look of his
eye testified to his confidence in the strength of his
arms, whose every muscle stood out like a hard
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THREE MEN. 33
tumour, while his fists were worthy of the heavy broad-
sword, whose blade was broadest towards its point
Feriz Beg, on discarding his dolman, rolled up the
sleeves of his fine shirt of Turkish linen to his
shoulders, and drew from its sheath his fine Damascus
scimitar, which was scarce two inches broad, and so
flexible that you could have bent it double in every
direction like a watch-spring. His arms did not seem
to be over-encumbered with muscles, but at the first
movement he made, as he lightly tested his blade, a
whole array of steel % springs and stone-hard sinews, or
so they seemed to be, suddenly started up upon his
arm, revealing a whole network of highly-developed
sinews and muscles. His face was fixed and grave.
Only Emeric seemed to take the whole affair as a
light joke. With a smile he drew up his lace-
embroidered shirt of holland linen, bound up his hair
beneath his kalpag, and folded his well-rounded arms,
whose feminine whiteness, plastic, regular symmetry,
and slender proportions, gave no promise whatever
of anything like manly strength. His sword came
from a famous Newcastle arms manufactory, and was
made of a certain dark, lilac-coloured steel, somewhat
bent, and with a very fine point
"My friends," said Emeric, turning towards his
opponents, " as there are three of us m this contest,
and each one of the three must fight the other two, let
us lay down some rule to regulate the encounter."
" I'll fight the pair of you together," said the Prince
haughtily.
"I'll also fight one against two," retorted Feriz.
" Then each one for himself and everybody against
everybody else," explained Tokoly. "That will
certainly be amusing enough ; in fact, a new sort of
encounter altogether, though hardly what gentlemen
are used to. Now, I should consider it much nobler
if we fought against each other singly, and when one
of us falls, the victor can renew the combat with the
man in reserve."
" I don't mind, only the sooner the better," said the
c
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34 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
Prince impatiently, and took up his position on the
ground.
" Stop, my friend ; don't you know that we cannot
commence this contest without Feriz?"
"Pooh! I didn't come here as a spectator," cried
the Prince passionately ; " besides, I have nothing to
do with the Beg."
" But I have to do with you," interrupted Feriz.
" Well," said Tdkdly, " I myself do not know what
has offended him, but he chose to intervene, and such
challenges as his are wont to be accepted without
asking the reason why. No doubt he has private
reasons of his own."
"You may stop there," interrupted Feriz. "Let
Fate decide."
" By all means," observed the Count, drawing forth
three pieces of money impressed with the image of
King Sigismund — a gold coin, a silver coin, and a
copper coin — and handed them to the Turkish leech.
" Take these pieces of money, my worthy fellow, and
throw them into the air. The gold coin is the Prince,
the copper coin is myself. Whichever two of the
three coins come down on the same side, their
representatives will fight first."
The leech flung the pieces into the air, and the
gold and silver pieces came down on the same side.
The Prince beckoned angrily to Feriz.
" Come, the sooner the better. Apparently I must
have this little affair off my hands before I can get
at Tokoly."
Tokoly motioned to the leech to keep the pieces
of money and have his bandages ready.
" Bandages ! " said the Prince ironically. " It's not
first blood, but last blood, I'm after."
And now the combatants stood face to face.
For a long time they looked into each other's eyes,
as if they would begin the contest with the darts of
flashing glances, and then suddenly they fell to.
The Prince's onset was as furious as if he would
have crushed his opponent in the twinkling of an eye
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THREE MEN. *5
with the heavy and violent blows which he rained
upon him with all his might But Feriz Beg stood
firmly on the self-same spot where he had first
planted his feet, and though he was obliged to bend
backwards a little to avoid the impact of the terrible
blows, yet his slender Damascus scimitar, wove, as
it were, a tent of lightning flashes all around him,
defending him on every side, and flashing sparks
now hither, now thither, whenever it encountered the
antagonistic broadsword.
The Prince's face was purple with rage. " Miserable
puppy ! " he thundered, gnashing his teeth ; and,
pressing still closer on his opponent, he dealt him
two or three such terrible blows that the Beg was
beaten down upon one knee, and, the same instant,
a jet of blood leaped suddenly from somewhere into
the face of the Prince, who thereupon staggered back
and let fall his sword. In the heat of the duel he
had not noticed that he had been wounded. Whilst
raining down a torrent of violent blows upon his
antagonist, he incautiously struck his own hand, so
to speak, on the sword of Feriz Beg, just below the
palm where the arteries are, and the wound which
severed the sinews of the wrist constrained him to
drop his sword.
Tokoly at once rushed forward.
u You are wounded, Prince ! " he cried.
The leech hastened forward with the bandages, the
dark red blood spurted from the severed arteries like
a fountain, and the Prince's face grew pale in an
instant. But scarcely had the surgeon bound up his
wounded right hand than his eye kindled again, and,
turning to Emeric, he cried : " I have still a hand
left, and I can fight with it. Put my sword into
my left hand, and I'll fight to the last drop of my
blood."
'• Don't be impatient, Prince," said Emeric court-
eously ; u ill-luck is your enemy to-day, but as soon
as you are cured you may command me, and I will
be at your service."
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36 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
The Prince, who was already tottering, leaned
heavily on his soldiers, who hastened towards him
and conveyed him half unconscious to the carriage
awaiting him. His wound was much worse than it
had seemed at first, and there was no knowing
whether it would not prove mortal.
Only two combatants now remained in the field —
Emeric and Feriz. The Beg was still standing in
his former place, and beckoned in dumb show to
Emeric to come on.
" Pardon me, my worthy comrade," said the Count,
"you are a little fatigued, and a combat between us
would be unfair if I, who have rested, should fight
with you now. Come, plump down on the grass
for a little beside me. My man has brought some
cold provisions for the journey; let us have a few
mouthfuls together first, and then we can fight it out
at our ease/ 1
This nonchalant proposal seemed to please Feriz,
and, leaning his sword against a tree, he sat down in
the grass, whilst Emeric's servant unpacked the cold
meat and the fruit which he had brought for his
master, together with a silver calabash-shaped flask
full of wine.
Emeric returned the flask to the soldier. "Look
you, my son " said he, "you can drink the wine, and
then fill the flask with spring water, for Feriz Beg
does not drink wine, and there are no other drinking
utensils ; I, therefore, will also drink water, and so
we shall be equal/ 1 Feriz Beg was pleased with his
comrade's free and easy behaviour, took willingly of
the food piled up before him, and not only drank
out of the same flask, but even answered questions
when they were put to him.
A faint scar was visible on the forehead of the
young Beg, which the fold of his turban did not quite
conceal.
"Did you get that wound from a Magyar?*
inquired the Count
u No, from an Italian, on the isle of Candia."
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THREE MEN. 37
"I thought so at once. A Magyar does not cut
with the point of his sword. I see the hand of an
Italian fencing-master in it. I can even tell you the
position you were in when you received it. The
enemy was beside you, in front of you, on your right
hand, and on your left Now you employed that
masterly circular stroke which you have just now
displayed, whereby you can defend yourself on all
sides at once. Then the foe in front of you suddenly
rose in his saddle, and with a blow which you did
not completely ward off, scarred your forehead with
the point of his sword."
" It was just like that"
" It is one of the master-strokes of Basanella, and
very carefully you have to watch it, for there is scarce
any defence against it ; the sword seems to strike up
and down in the same instant, as if it were a sickle,
and however high you may hold your own sword, the
blow breaks through your defence. There is, indeed,
only one defence against it, and that the simplest in
the world — dodge back your head."
"You are quite right," said Feriz Beg smiling, and
after washing his hands, he again took up his sword,
" let us make an end of it."
" I don't mind," said Tokoly ; and lightly drawing
his own sword with his delicate white hand, just as
if it were a gewgaw which he was disengaging from
its case to present to a lady, he took up his position
on the ground.
u Just one word more," said Tokoly with friendly
candour. " When you fight with a single opponent,
do not rush forward as if you were on a battlefield
and had to do with ten men at least, for in so doing
you expend much force uselessly, and allow your
opponent to come up closer ; rather elongate your
sword and allow only your hand to play freely."
•• I thank you for the advice," said Feriz smiling.
Had it been anybody else he would probably have
thrust back the advice into his face. But Emeric
imparted it to him with such a friendly, comrade-like
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38 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
voice as if they had only come there for the fun of
the thing.
Then the combat began. Feriz Beg, with his
usual impetuosity, pressed upon his adversary as if he
would pay him back his amicable counsels in kind ;
while Tokoly calmly, composedly smiling, flung back
the most violent assaults of his rival as if it were a
mere sport to him, so lightly, so confidently did his
sword turn in his hand, with so much finished grace
did he accompany every movement — in fact, he
hardly seemed to make any exertion. The most
violent blows aimed at him by Feriz Beg he parried
with the lightest twist of his sword, and not once
did he counter, so that at last Feriz Beg, involun-
tarily overcome by rage, fell back and lowered his
sword.
a You are only playing with me. Why don't you
strike back ? "
"Twice you might have received from me Basa-
nella's master-stroke, so impetuously do you fight."
In a duel nothing is so wounding as the super-
cilious self-restraint of an opponent Feriz Beg grew
quiet furious at Tokoly 's cold repose, and flung
himself upon his opponent as if absolutely beside
himself.
" Let us see whether you are the Devil or not," he
cried.
At the same instant, when he had advanced a pace
nearer to Tokoly, the latter suddenly stretched forth
his sword and at the instant when he parried his
opponent's blow, he made a scarce perceptible
backward and upward jerk with the point of his
sword, and at that same instant a burning red line
was visible on the temples of Feriz Beg. The young
Turk lowered his sword in surprise as his face,
immediately after the unnoticed stroke, began to
bleed. Tokoly flung away his sword and, tearing
out his white pocket-handkerchief, rushed suddenly
towards his opponent, stanched the wound with the
liveliest sympathy, and said, in a voice tremulous with
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THREE MEN. 39
the most naive apprehension : " Look now ! didn't I
tell you all along to watch for that stroke ? *
By this time the leech had also come up with
the bandages, and examining the wound, observed
consolingly :
" A soldierly affair. Only the skin is pierced. In
three days you will be all right"
Tokoly, full of joy, pressed the hand of Feriz
Beg.
" Henceforth we will be good friends," said he.
44 Before God, I protest I never gave you the slightest
pause of offence."
" I shall rejoice in your friendship," said Feriz
solemnly, "but if you wish it to last, listen to my
words : never approach a girl whom you do not love
in order to make her love you, and if you are loved,
love in return and make her happy."
"You have my word of honour on it, Feriz,"
replied Tokoly. " Of all the girls whom I have seen
since I knew you, not one of them have I loved,
and by none of them do I want to be loved."
Feriz Beg could not refrain from shaking his head
and smiling.
" Apparently you forget that your own bride was
among them."
Tokoly bit his lips in some confusion, and answered
nothing ; he thought it best to pass off this slip of the
tongue as a mere jest Then the two reconciled
antagonists embraced and returned to the roadside
cross. Tokoly constrained the Beg to take his coach
and go on to Ibraila, while he himself mounted his
horse, and taking leave of Feriz, took the road
leading to the Pass of Bozza.
The soldier-courier now fancied it was high time
that the urgent letters, of which he was the bearer,
should be read, and accordingly asked his master
about it
"Well, where are your two letters?" asked the
Count very languidly.
44 There are not two, sir, but three."
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40 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
rt What ! have they multiplied ?"
" Miss Flora gave me the third half an hour before
she took coach to go home."
" Then she has gone on before, eh ? Well, let us
see what they write about"
Teleki's was the first letter which Emeric perused ;
he glanced through it rapidly, as if it had no very
great claim upon his attention. When he came to
that part of it where he was told to look after Flora,
he paused for a little. " Well, I can easily overtake
her," he thought, and he took the second letter, which
was subscribed with the name of Helen. Twice
he perused it, and then he returned to it a third
time, and his face grew visibly redder. Involuotarily
he sighed as he thrust the letter into his breast
pocket just above his heart, and looked sadly in front
of him, as if he were listening to the beating of his
own heart
Then he broke open the third letter.
It contained an engagement ring, nothing else.
That was all — not a single accompanying word or
letter.
For an instant Emeric held it in his hand in blank
amazement ; his steed stopped also. For some
minutes his face was pale and his head hung
down.
But in another instant he was again upright in his
saddle, and he exclaimed in a voice loud enough to
be heard afar :
"Well, it's not coming off then, so much the
better l"
Then he threw away the envelope in which the
ring had been, and drawing out the letter which he
had thrust into his bosom, he put the ring into it and
then returned it to his bosom ; then, with a glowing
face, he turned his horse's head and, in the best of
humours, called to his soldier : " We will not go to
Transylvania. Back to Mehadia 1 "
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CHAPTER IV.
AFFAIRS OF STATE.
The year was a few weeks older since we saw Tokoly
depart from Rumnik, after reading the three letters,
and behold, Michael Teleki still lingered at Gyula-
fehervir. and had not gone with the Transylvanian
forces to D£va.
He had been feeling ill for some days, and had
not been able to leave his room. A slow fever tor-
mented his limbs, his face had lost its colour, he was
hardly able to hold himself up, and every joint ached
whenever he moved. He had need of repose, but
not a single moment could he have to himself, and
just when he would have liked to have shown the
door to every worry and bother, the Prince at one
moment, and the Turkish Ambassador at another,
were continually pressing their affairs upon him.
At that moment his crony Nalaczi was with him,
standing at the window, while Teleki sat in an arm-
chair. All his members were shaken by the ague,
his breath was burning hot, his face was as pale as
wax, and he could scarce keep his lips together.
By his chair stood his page — young Cserei — whilst
huddled up in a corner on one side was a scarce
visible figure which clung close to the wall with as
miserable, shamefaced an expression as if it would
have liked to crawl right into it and be hidden.
What with the darkness and its own miserableness,
we should scarce recognise this shape if Teleki did
not chance to give it a name, railing at it, from time
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42 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
to time, as if it were a lifeless log, without even
looking at it, for, in truth, his back was turned upon
it.
" I tell you, Master Sz^nasi, you are an infinitely
useless blockhead "
" I humbly beg "
" Don't beg anything. Here have I, worse luck,
been entrusting you with a small commission, in
order that you might impart ' some wholesome
information to the people, and instead of that you
go and fool them with all sorts of old wives' stories."
" Begging your Excellency's pardon, I thought — "
" Thought ? What business had you to think ?
You thought, perhaps, you were doing me a service
with your nonsense, eh ? "
" Mr. Nalaczi said as much, your Excellency."
Mr. Nalaczi seemed to be sitting on thorns all this
while.
"Now just see what a big fool you are," inter-
rupted Teleki. " Mr. Nalaczi may have told you,
for what I know, that it might be well for you to
use your influence with the common people by
mentioning before them the wonders which have
recently taken place, and thereby encouraging them
to be loyal and friendly to each other, but I am sure
he did not tell you to manufacture wonders on your
own account, and terrify the people by spreading
abroad rumours of coming war."
" I thought " Here he stopped short, the
worthy man was quite incapable at that moment of
completing his sentence.
"Thought! You thought, I suppose, that just as
I was collecting armies, you would do me a great
service by preaching war ? So far as I am concerned,
I should like to see every sword buried in the earth."
" Begging your Excellency's pardon "
"Get out of my sight Never let me see you
again. In three days you must leave Transylvania,
or else I'll send you out, and you won't thank me for
that."
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AFFAIRS OF STATE. 43
"May I humbly ask what I am to do if your
Excellency withdraws your favour from me?"
whined the fellow.
44 You may do as you like. Go to Szathmir and
become the lacquey of Baron Kopp, or the scribe of
Master Kdszonyi. I'm just going to write to them.
I'll mention your name in my letter, and you can
take it."
" And if they won't accept me ? "
" Then you must tack on to someone else, anyhow
you shan't starve. Only get out of my sight as
quickly as possible."
The "magister" withdrew in fear and trembling,
wiping his eyes with his pocket-handkerchief.
" Sir," said Nalaczi, when they were alone together,
u this violence does harm."
44 The only way with such fellows is to bully them
whatever they do, for they are deceivers and traitors
at heart, and would otherwise do you mischief.
Kick and beat them, chivy them from pillar to post,
and make them feel how wretched their lot is, if you
don't want them to play off their tricks upon you."
44 1 don't see it in that light This irritability will
do you no good."
44 On the contrary it keeps me up. If I had not
always given vent to my feelings I should have been
lying on a sick-bed long ago. Take these few
thalers, go after that good-for-nothing, and tell him
that I am very angry with him, and therefore he
must try in future to deserve my confidence better,
in which case I shall not forget him. Tell him to
wait in the gate for the letter I am about to write,
and when once he has it in his hand let him get out
of Transylvania as speedily as he can. Remind him
that I don't yet know about what happened in the
square at Klausenberg, and if I did know I would
have him flogged out of the realm ; so let him look
sharp about it"
Nalaczi laughed and went out.
Teleki sank back exhausted on his pillows, and
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44 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
made his page rub the back of his neck violently
with a piece of flannel.
At that instant the Prince entered. His face was
wrath, and all because of his sympathy. He began
scolding Teleki on the very threshold.
44 Why don't you lie down when I command you ?
Does it beseem a grown-up man like you to be as
disobedient as a capricious child? Why don't you
send for the doctor ; why don't you be blooded ? "
"There is nothing the matter with me, your High-
ness. It is only a little ktemorrhoidalis alter atio, I
am used to it It always plagues me at the approach
of the equinoxes."
44 Ai, ai, Michael Teleki, you don't get over me.
You are very ill, I tell you. Your mental anxiety
has brought about this physical trouble. Does it
become a Christian man, I ask, to take on so because
my little friend Flora cannot have one particular man
out of fifteen wooers, and a fellow like Emeric, too — a
mere dry stick of a man."
44 1 don't give it any particular importance."
44 You are a bad Christian, I tell you, if you say
that You love neither God nor man ; neither your
family, nor me "
44 Sir ! " said Teleki, in a supplicating voice.
44 For if you did love us, you would spare yourself
and )ie down, and not get up again till you were
quite well again."
41 But if I lie down "
"Yes, I know — other things will have a rest too.
The bottom of the world isn't going to fall out, I
suppose, because you keep your bed for a day or
two. Cornel look sharp! I will not go till I see
you lying on your bed."
What could Teleki do but lie down at the express
command of his Sovereign.
"And you won't get up again without my per-
mission, mind," said the Prince, signalling to young
Cserei, and addressing the remainder of his discourse
to him. " And you, young man, take care that your
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AFFAIRS OF STATE. 45
master does not leave his bed, do you hear? I
command it, and, till he is quite well, don't let him
do any hard work, whether it be reading, writing, or
dictation. You have my authorisation to prevent it,
and you must rigorously do your duty. You will
also allow nobody to enter this room, except the
doctor and the members of the family. Now, mind
what I say! As for you, Master Teleki, you will
wrap yourself well up and get yourself well rubbed
all over the body with a woollen cloth, clap a mustard
poultice on your neck and keep it there as long as
you can bear it, and towards evening have a hot
bath, with salt and bran in it ; and if you won't have
a vein opened put six leeches on your temples, and
the doctor will tell you what else to do. And in any
case don't fail to take some of these pilula de
cynoglosso. Their effect is infallible." Whereupon
the Prince pressed into Teleki's hand a box full of
those harmless medicaments which, under the name
of dog's-tongue pills, were then the vogue in all
domestic repositories.
"All will be well, your Highness. 1 '
*Let us hope so! Towards evening I will come'
and see you again."
And then the Prince withdrew with an air of
satisfaction, thinking that he had given the fellow a
good frightening.
Scarce had he closed the door behind him than
Teleki beckoned to Cserei to bring him the letters
which had just arrived.
The page regarded him dubiously. " The Prince
forbade me to do so," he observed conscientiously.
" The Prince loves to have his joke," returned the
counsellor. " I like my joke, too, when I've time
for it Break open those letters and read them to
tne."
" But what will the Prince say ? "
* It is I who command you, my son, not the
Prince Read them, I say, and don't mind if you
hear me groan."
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46 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
Cserei looked at the seal of one of the letters and
durst not break it open.
" Your Excellency, that is a secretum sigillum"
"Break it open like a man, I say. Such secrets
are not dangerous to you; you are a child to be
afraid of such things."
Cserei opened the letter, and glancing at the
signature, stammered in a scarce audible voice:
" Leopoldus."*
Teleki, resting on his elbows, listened attentively.
"Your Highness and my well-disposed
Friend — I have heard from Baron Mendenzi Kopp
and worthy Master Kdszonyi of your Excellency's
good dispositions towards me and Christendom, and
your readiness to help in the present disturbances.
All my own efforts will be directed to the preservation
of the rights and liberties of the Christian Princes, so
that there may not be the slightest occasion that the
Turkish War should extend, and that the whole
power of the Ottoman Empire should be hurled on
me and my dominions. But I hope that the fury of
these barbarians, by the combination of the foreign
kings and princes, shall, with God's assistance, be
so opposed and thwarted as to make them turn
back from the league of the combined faithful
hosts. Meanwhile, I assure your Excellency and the
Estates of Transylvania of my protection, so long
as you continue well-disposed towards me, and I
entrust the maintenance of this good understanding
between us to Messrs. the illustrious Baron Kopp
and the Honourable Mr. Kiszonyi. Wishing your
Excellency good health and all manner of good
fortune, etc., etc."
Cserei looked at the doors and windows in terror,
for fear someone might be listening.
" And now let us read the second letter."
Cserefs top-knot regularly began to sweat when he
* i.i. the Emperor Leopold.
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AFFAIRS OF STATE. 47
recognised at the bottom of the opened letter the
signature of the Grand Vizier, who thus wrote to
the Prince :
"Most illustrious Prince, hearty love
AND GREETING! — We would inform thee of our
grace and favour that we have sent a part of our
army to the assistance of the imprisoned heroes in
our most mighty master the Sultan's fortress of
Nyitra, where the faithless foe are besieging them.
It is therefore necessary that thou with thy whole'
host and all the necessary muniments of war should
hasten thither without loss of time, so as to unite
both in heart and deed with our warriors, who are
on their way against the enemy. We believe that
by the grace of God thou wilt be ready to render
useful service to the mighty Sultan, and so be
entitled to participate in his favour and liberality.
We, moreover, after the end of the solemn feast days
which we are wont to keep after our fasts are over,
will follow our advance guards with our countless
hosts, and thou meanwhile must manfully take this
business in hand, so that thy loyalty may shine the
more gloriously in martial deeds. Peace be to those
who are in the obedience of God."
Poor Cserei, when he had read this letter through,
had a worse fit of ague than his master. He
anxiously watched the face of the statesman, but the
only thing visible in his features was bodily suffering.
There was no sign of mental disturbance.
The blood flew to his face, the veins were throbbing
visibly in his temples.
"Come hither, my son," he said in a scarcely
audible voice ; " bring me a glass of water, put into
it as much rhubarb powder as would go on the edge
of a knife, and give it me to drink."
Cserei fancied that the sick Premier had not
mastered the contents of the letter because of a fresh
access of fever, and, having prepared the rhubarb
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48 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
water in a few moments, gave it him to drink,
whereupon Teleki crouched down beneath his
coverlet. He could have done nothing better, for
now the ague burst forth again, so that he regularly
shivered beneath its attack. Cserei wanted to run
for a doctor.
"Whither are you going?" asked Teleki. "Fetch
ink and parchment, and write."
The lad obeyed his command marvelling.
" Bring hither the round table and sit down beside
it Write what I tell you."
The pen shook in the lad's hand, and he kept
dipping it into the sand instead of into the ink.
Teleki, in a broken voice, dictated a letter as well
as the fever would allow him.
"Most Exalted Grand Vizier and Well-
beloved Sir, — We learn from your Highness's
dispatch that the armies of the Sublime Sultan who
have lately been besieging the fortress of Nyitra
are now endeavouring to combine their forces, and
though this realm has but a meagre possession of
the muniments of war remaining to it, we shall be
prepared most punctually to hold at your Highness's
gracious disposition as much, though it be but little,
forage, hay, and other necessary stores as we still
possess, you making allowance for all inevitable
defects and shortcomings. Moreover, rumour has
it that the hostile hosts are beginning to show
themselves on the borders of Transylvania, which
irruption, though it be no secret, is yet to be con-
firmed, and should it be so we must meet it with all
our attention and energy. As to this your Highness
shall be informed in good time, and in the meanwhile
we commit you to God's gracious favour, etc, etc."
Cserei sighed and thought to himself: "1 wonder
whence all the hay and oats is to come ? "
But Teleki knew very well that in consequence of
last year's bad harvests and inundations the Turkish
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AFFAIRS OF STATE. 49
army was suffering severely from want of hay, so
that what with him was an occasion for delay, with
them was an occasion for hurrying — whence we may
draw the reflection that the great events of this
world are built upon haycocks!
"Address the second letter," continued Teleki, "to
his Excellency Baron Mendenzi Kopp and to the
honourable Achatius Kiszonyi, commandants of the
fortress of Szathmdr, and he thus went on dictating
to Cserei, whilst in the intervals of silence the groans
which the ague forced from his breast were distinctly
audible.
"With joy we learn of the intention of your
Honours to endeavour to seize one of the gates of
entrance of the enemy of our faith, through which
he was always ready to come for our destruction.
May the God of mercy forward the designs of your
Excellencies. If, on this occasion, your Excellencies
could also find time to make a feigned attack upon
Transylvania in order to give us a reasonable excuse
of our inability to lend the Turks the assistance they
expect from us, you would make matters easier for
us, and render us an essential service. On the other
hand, if we should be compelled against our wills to
send our soldiers against the Christian camp, in
conjunction with the enemies of our faith, we assure
your Excellencies that our host will be a purely
nominal one, etc., etc
44 P.S. — The bearer of this letter can be employed
by your Excellencies as a courier or otherwise."
Cserei looked with amazement at the man in
whom mental vivacity seemed to rise triumphant
even over the lassitude of fever.
44 Take a third sheet of paper, and address it to the
Honourable Ladislaus Eb£ni, Lieutenant-Governor
of the fortress of Klausenburg.
D
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50 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
" We hasten to inform your Honour that prepara-
tions are being made by the Commandant of the
fortress of Szathm&r, which leads us to conjecture
that he meditates making an irruption into Tran-
sylvania. It may, of course, be merely a feint, but
your Honour would do well to be prepared and
under arms, lest he have designs against us, and is
not merely making a noise. We, meanwhile, will
postpone the advance of our arms into Hungary,
lest, while we are attacking on one side, we leave
Transylvania defenceless on the other. Once more
we counsel your Honour to use the utmost caution,
etc."
" And now take these letters and carry them to the
Prince, that he may sign them."
"And what if he box my ears for allowing your
Excellency to dictate ? " said the frightened lad.
* Never mind it, my son, you will have suffered
for your country. I, too, have had buffets enough
in my time, not only when I was a child, but since
I have grown up." And with that he turned his
face towards the wall and pulled the coverlet over
him.
Fortunately Cserei found Apafi in .the apartment
of the consort, and thus avoided the box on the ear,
got the letters signed, and dispatched them all in
different directions, so that all three got into the
proper hands in the shortest conceivable time. And
now let us see the result
The Grand Vizier blasphemed when he had read
his, and swore emphatically that if there were no
hay in Transylvania he would make hay of their
Excellencies.
Baron Kopp and Mr. Kdszonyi chuckled together
over their letter. The Commandant murmured
gruffly: "I don't care, so you needn't"
Mr. EWni, however, on reading his letter, deposited
it neatly among the public archives, growling
angrily :
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AFFAIRS OF STATE. 51
" If I were to call the people to arms at every wild
alarm or idle rumour, I should have nothing else to
do all day long. It is a pity that Teleki hasn't
something better to do than to bother me continually
with his scribble."
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CHAPTER V.
THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN.
In order that the horizon may stand clearly before
us, it must be said that in those days there were two
important points in Hungary on the Transylvanian
border: Grosswardein and Szathmdr-N&neti, which
might be called the gates of Transylvania — good
places of refuge if their keys are in the hand of the
Realm, but all the more dangerous when the hands of
strangers dispose of them.
At this very time a German army was investing
Szathmdr and the Turks had sat down before Gross-
wardein, and the plumed helmets of the former were
regarded as as great a menace on the frontiers of the
state as the half-moons themselves.
The inhabitants of the regions enclosed between
these fortresses never could tell by which road they
were to expect the enemy to come. For in swch
topsy-turvy days as those were, every armed man
was an enemy, from whom corn, cattle, and pretty
women had to be hidden away, and their friendship
cost as much as their enmity, and perhaps more ; for
if they found out at Szathmir that some nice wagon-
loads of corn and hay had been captured from
local marauders without first beating their brains
out, the magistrates would look in next day and
impose a penalty ; and again, on the other hand, if it
were known at Grosswardein that the Szathmirians
had been received hospitably at any gentleman's
house, and the daughter of the house had spoken
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THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN. 53
courteously to them, the Turks would wait until the
Szathmdrians had gone farther on and would then fall
upon the house in question and burn it to the ground,
so that the Szathmirians should not be able to sleep
there again ; and, as for the daughter of the house,
they would carry her off to a harem, in order to save
her from any further discoursing with the magistrates
of Szathmir.
And, last of all, there was a third enemy to be
reckoned with, and this was the countless rabble of
betydrs, or freebooters, who inhabited the whole
region from the marshes of Ecsed to the morasses of
AHbuner, and who gave no reason at all for driving
off their neighbour's herds and even destroying his
houses.
In those days a certain Feri Koklnyesdi had won
renown as a robber chieftain, and extraordinary,
marvellous tales were told in every village and on
every puszta* of him and the twelve robbers who
followed his banner, and who were ready at a word
to commit the most incredible audacities. People
talked of their entrenched fortresses among the-
B£labora and Alibuner marshes which were inacces-
sible to any mortal foe, and in which, even if
surrounded on all sides, they could hold out against
five regiments till the day of judgment. Then there
were tales of storehouses concealed among the
Cumanian sand-hills which could only be discovered
by the scent of a horse ; there were tales of a good
steed who, after one watering, could gallop all the way
from the Theiss to the Danube, who could recognise
a foe two thousand paces off, and would neigh if his
master were asleep or fondling his sweetheart in the
tavern ; there were tales of the gigantic strength of
the robber chief who could tackle ten pandursf at
once, and who, whenever he was pursued, could cause
a sea to burst forth between himself and his pursuers,
50 that they would be compelled to turn back.
• Common. t Police officers.
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54 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
As a matter of fact, Mr. Kok6nyesdi was neither
a giant who turned men round his little finger nor
a magician who threw dust in their eyes, but an
honest-looking, undersized, meagre figure of a man
and a citizen of Hodmezo-Vdsirhely, in which place
he had a house and a couple of farms, on which he
conscientiously paid his portion of taxes; and he had
bulls and stallions, as to everyone of which he was
able to prove where he had bought and how much he
had paid for it. Not one of them was stolen.
Yet everyone knew very well that neither his farms
nor his bulls nor his stallions had been acquired in a
godly way, and that the famous robber chief whose
rumour filled every corner of the land was none other
than he.
But who could prove it ? Had anybody ever seen
him steal? Had he ever been caught red-handed?
Did he not always defend himself in the most
brilliant manner whenever he was accused? When
there was a rumour that Kdk£nyesdi was plundering
the county of Mirmaros from end to end, did he not
produce five or six eye-witnesses to prove that at that
very time he was ploughing and sowing on his farms,
and was not the judge at great pains to discover
whether these witnesses were reliable ?
Those who visited him at his native place of
Vasirhely found him to be a respected, worthy, well-
to-do man, who tossed his own hay till the very palm
of his hand sweated, while those who sought for
Koklnyesdi on the confines of the realm never saw
his face at all ; it was indeed a very tiresome business
to pursue him. That man was a brave fellow indeed
who did not feel his heart beat quicker when he
followed his track through the pathless morasses and
the crooked sand-hills of the interminable puszta.
And if two or three counties united to capture him,
he would let himself be chased to the borders of the
fourth county, and when he had leaped across it
would leisurely dismount and beneath the very eyes
of his pursuers, loose his horse to graze and lie down
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THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN. 55
beside it on his bunda* — for there was the Turkish
frontier, and he knew very well that beyond Lippa
they durst not pursue him, for there the Pasha of
Temesvar held sway.
Now, at this time there was among the garrison of
Szathmar a captain named Ladislaus R&kdczy. The
Rdk6czy family, after Helen Zrinyi's husband had
turned papist, for the most part were brought up at
Vienna, and many of them held commissions in
the Imperial army. Ladislaus Rdkdczy likewise
became a captain of musketeers, and as the greater
part of his company consisted of Hungarian lads, it
was not surprising if the Prince of Transylvania, on
the other hand, kept German regiments to garrison
his towns and accompany him whithersoever he went
It chanced that this Ladislaus Rdkdczy, who was a
very handsome, well-shaped, and good-hearted youth,
fell in love with Christina, the daughter of Adam
Rh6dey, who dwelt at R£k4s ; and as the girl's father
agreed to the match, he frequently went over from
Szathm&r to see his fiancie, accompanied by several
of his fellow-officers, and he and his friends were
always received by the family as welcome guests.
Now, it came to the ears of the Pasha of Gross-
wardein that the Squire of R£k£s was inclined to give
away his daughter in marriage to a German officer,
and perchance it was also whispered to him that the
girl was beautiful and gracious. At any rate, one night
Haly Pasha, at the head of his Spahis, stole away
from Grosswardein and, taking the people of R6kds by
surprise, burnt Adam Rh&ley's house down, delivered
it over to pillage, beat Rh&ley himself with a whip,
and tied him to the pump-handle, while, as for his
daughter, who was half dead with fright, he put her
up behind him on the saddle and trotted back to
Grosswardein by the light of the burning village.
Ladislaus Rdk6czy, who came there next day for
his own bridal feast, found everthing wasted and
* Sheepskio mantle.
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56 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
ravaged, and the servants, who were hiding behind the
hedges, peeped out and told him what had happened
the night before, and how Haly Pasha had abducted
his bride. The bridegroom was taciturn at the best
of times, but a Hungarian is not in the habit of
talking much when anything greatly annoys him, so,
without a word to his comrades, he went back to the
governor and asked permission to lead his regiment
against Grosswardein.
The general, perceiving that persuasion was useless,
and that the youth would by himself try a tussle with
the Turks if he couldn't do it otherwise, took the
matter seriously and promised that he would place at
his disposal, not only his own regiment but the whole
garrison, if only he would persuade the neighbouring
gentry to join him in the attack on the Turks of
Grosswardein.
As for the gentry, they only needed a word to fly
to arms at once, for there was scarce one of them
who had not at one time or other been enslaved,
beaten, or at least insulted by the Turks, so that the
mere appearance of a considerable force of regular
soldiers marching against the Turks was sufficient to
bring them out at once. The Turks, having once got
possession of Grosswardein, had established them-
selves therein as firmly as if they meant to justify the
Mussulman tradition that he never abandons a
town that he has once occupied, or never voluntarily
surrenders a place in which he has built a mosque,
and indeed history rarely records a case of capitulation
by the Turks — their fortresses are generally taken by
storm.
From the year 1660, when Haly Pasha occupied
the fortress, a quite new Turkish town had arisen
in the vacant space between the fortress and the old
town, and this new town was surrounded by a strong
palisade, the only entrances into which were through
very narrow gates. This new town was inhabited by
nothing but Turkish chapmen, who bartered away
the goods captured by the garrison, and Haly Pasha's
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THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN. 57
Spahis did a roaring business in the oxen and slaves
which they had gathered together, attracting pur-
chasers all the way from Bagdad. Thus from year to
year the market of Grosswardein became better and
better known in the Turkish commercial world, so
that one wooden house after another sprang up, and
they built across and along the empty space just as
they liked, so that at last there was hardly what you
would call a street in the whole place, and people
had to go through their neighbours' houses in order
to get into their own ; in a word, the whole thing
took the form of a Turkish fair, where pomp and
splendour conceals no end of filth ; the patched up
wooden shanties were covered with gorgeous oriental
stuffs, while in the streets hordes of ownerless dogs
wandered among the perennial offal, and if two
people met together in the narrow alleys, to pass
each other was impossible.
This fenced town was not large enough to hold the
herds that were swept towards it, there was hardly
room enough for the masters of the herds ; but on
the banks of the Pecze there was a large open
entrenched space reserved for the purpose, where the
Bashkir horsemen stood on guard over the herds with
their long spears, and had to keep their eyes pretty
open if they didn't want Kok^nyesdi to honour them
with a visit, who was capable of stealing not only the
horses but the horsemen who guarded them.
Take but one case out of many. One day
Kok£nyesdi, -ip his bunda, turned inside out as
usual, with a round spiral hat on his head and a
large knobby stick in his hands, appeared outside the
entrenchment within which a closely-capped Kurd
was guarding Haly Pasha's favourite charger, Shebdiz.
"What a nice charger!" said the horse-dealer to
the Kurd.
" Nice indeed, but not for your dog's teeth."
" Yet I assure you I'll steal him this very night."
" I shall be there too, my lad," thought the Kurd to
himself, and with that he leaped upon the horse and
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58 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
grasped fast his three and a half ells long spear ; " if
you want the horse come for it now I n
"I'm not going to fetch it at once, so don't put
yourself out," Kok^nyesdi assured him. " You may
do as you like with him till morning, 11 and with that
he sat down on the edge of the ditch, wrapped
himself up in his bunda, and leaned his chin on his
big stick.
The Kurd durst not take his eyes off him, he scarce
ventured even to wink, lest the horse-dealer should
practise magic in the meantime.
He never stirred from the spot, but drew his hat
deep down and regarded the Kurd from beneath it
with his foxy eyes.
Meanwhile it was drawing towards evening. The
Kurd's eyes now regularly started out of his head in
liis endeavours to distinguish the form of Kdke'nyesdi
through the darkness. At last he grew weary of the
whole business.
* Go away ! " he said. " Do you hear me ? "
Kokenyesdi made no reply.
.The Kurd waited and gazed again. Everything
seemed to him to be turning round, and blue and
green wheels were revolving before his eyes.
" Go away, I tell you, for if this ditch was not a
broad one I would leap across and bore you through
with my spear."
The bunda never budged.
The Kuid flew into a rage, dismounted from the
horse, seized his spear, and climbing down into the
ditch, viciously plunged his spear into the sleeping
form before him.
But how great was his consternation when he
discovered that what he had looked upon as a man
in the darkness was nothing but a propped up stick,
on which a bunda and a hat were hanging ! While
he had been staring at Kokenyesdi, the latter had
crept from out of the bunda beneath his very eyes
and hidden himself in the ditch.
The Kurd had not yet recovered from his astonish-
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THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN. 59
merit when he heard the crack of a whip behind his
back, and there was Kok&iyesdi sitting already on
the back of Haly Pasha's charger, Shebdiz, and the
next moment he had leaped the ditch above the
Kurd's head, shouting back at him :
m The trench is not broad enough for this horse, my
son!"
Master Szlnasi was one bf those who had been sent
to find Kok£nyesdi, and he now arrived at Demerser,
the famous robber's most usual resting-place in those
days, and pushing his way forward told him that the
gentlemen of Szathmir had sent him to ask him,
Kok6nyesdi, to assist them in their expedition against
the Turks.
Kok£nyesdi, who was carrying a sheaf on his back,
looked sharply at the magister, who dared not meet
his gaze, and when he had finished his little speech he
roared at him :
" You lie ! You're a spy ! I don't like the look of
your mug ! I'm going to hang you up ! "
Sz£nasi, who was unacquainted with the robber
chiefs peculiarities, was near collapsing with terror,
whereupon Kok£nyesdi observed with a smile :
u Come, come, don't tremble so, I won't eat you up
at any rate, but tell the gentleman that sent you here
that another time he mustn't send a spy to me, for
to tell you the truth I don't believe in such faces as
yours. You may tell the gentleman, moreover, that
i( he wants to speak to me he must come himself. I
don't care about making a move on the strength of
idle chatter. I am easily to be found. Go to Piispok
Laddnya, walk into the last house on the right-hand
side and ask the master where the Bardtfa hostelry
is, he'll show you the way ; and now in God's name
scuttle ! and don't look back till you've got home."
The magister did as he was bid, and on getting
home delivered the message to his masters, where*
upon they immediately set out; Raining going on
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60 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
the part of the military, Jdnos Topay on the part of
the Hungarians, together with Ladislaus Rdk6czy
himself and the captain of the gentry of B4r6dsdg.
The gentlemen safely reached Piispok Laddnya,
where they had to wait at the magistrate's house
till night-fall, although Raining would have much
preferred to meet Kok^nyesdi by daylight, and
R£k6czy was burning to carry through his enterprise
as soon as possible.
While they waited Raining could not help asking
the magistrate whether it was far from there to the
Bardtfa inn ?
The magistrate shook his head and maintained
there was no such inn in the whole district, nor was
there.
Raining fancied that the magistrate must be a
stranger there, so he asked two or three old men the
same question, but they all gave him the same answer :
there might be a bardtfa puszta* here but there could
be no inn on it, or if there was an inn, the puszta
itself did not exist.
a Well, if they don't know anything about it at the
last house we had better turn back," said Raining to
himself; and, when it had grown quite dark, he
approached the house and began to talk with the
master who was dawdling about the door.
" God bless thee, countryman ! where's the bardtfa
inn?"
The man first of all measured the questioner from
head to foot, and then he merely remarked : <f God
requite thee ! over yonder ! " and he vaguely indicated
the direction with his head.
"We want to go there.; can't you show us the
way ? " asked Topay.
The man seized the questioner's hand and pointed
with it to a herdsman's fire in the distance.
" Look ; do you see the shine of its windows
there?"
* Common.
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THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN. 61
" Which is the way to it ? "
"That way 'tis nearer, t'other way it's quicker."
u What do you mean ? "
a If you go that way you'll go astray the quicker,
and if you go t'other way you may plump into a
bog."
u You lead us thither," intervened Rdk6czy, at the
same time pressing a ducat into the man's fist
He looked at it, turned it round in his palm and
gave it back to Rdk6czy with the request that he
would give him copper money in exchange for it.
He could not imagine anyone giving him. gold which
was not false.
When this had been done he neatly led-the gentle-
men through the morass — wading in front of them,
girded up to his waist — through those hidden places
where the water-fowl were sitting on their nests, and
when at last they emerged from among the thick
reedy plantations they saw a hundred paces in front
of them a fire of heaped up bulrushes brightly
burning, by the light of which they saw a horseman
standing behind it
Here their guide stopped and the three men trotted
in single file towards the fire, which suddenly died
out at the very moment they were approaching it, as
if someone had cast wet rushes upon it.
Topay greeted the horseman, who lifted his hat in
silence and allowed them to draw nearer.
"There are three of you gentlemen together," he
observed guardedly; "but that doesn't matter," he
continued. u It would be all the same to me if there
were ten times as many of you, for there's a pistol in
every one of my holsters, from which I can fire
sixteen bullets in succession, and in each bullet is a
magnet, so that even if I don't aim at my man I
bring him down all the same."
44 Very good, very good indeed, Master Kok^nyesdi "
said Topay ; " we are have not come here for you to
pepper us with your magnetic globules, but we have
come to ask your assistance for the accomplishment
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62 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
of a doughty deed, the object of which is. an attack
upon our pagan foes."
4< Oh, my good sirs, I am ready to do that without
the co-operation of your honours. In the courtyard
of a castle in the Baborsai puszta there is a well some
hundred fathoms deep and quite full of Turkish
skulls, and I will not be satisfied till I have piled up
on the top of it a tower just as high made of similar
materials."
" So I believe. But you would gain glory too?"
"I have glory enough already. I am known in
foreign countries as well as at home. The King of
France has long ago only waited for a word from me
to make me chief colonel of a long-tailed regiment,
and quite recently, when the King of England heard
how I bored through the hulls of the munition ships
on the Theiss, he did me the honour to invite me to
form a regiment of divers to ravage the enemy under
water. And I've all the boys for it too."
"I know, I know, Master Kok^nyesdi, but there
will be booty here too, and lots of it."
" What is booty to me ? If I choose to do so, I
•could bathe in gold and sleep on pearls."
"Have you really as much treasure as all that?"
inquired Raining with some curiosity.
"Ah," said Kokdnyesdi, "you ought to see the
storehouse in the Szilicza cavern, where gold and
silver are filled up as high as haystacks. There, too,
are the treasures dug up from the sands of the sea,
nothing but precious stones, diamonds, rubies, car-
buncles, and real pearls. I, myself, do not know how
many sackfuls."
" And cannot you be robbed of them ? "
" Impossible ; the entrance is so well concealed
that no man living can find it I myself can never
tell whether I am near it ; the shifting sand has so well
covered it Only one living animal can find it when
it is wanted, and that is my horse. And he will
never betray it, for if anyone but myself mounts him,
not a step farther will he go."
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THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN. 63
" And how did you come into possession of these
enormous treasures ? " asked Raining with astonish-
ment
"God gave them to me," said the horse-dealer,
raising his voice and his eyebrows at the same
time.
" Very edifying, no doubt, my friend/' said Topay ;
" but tell me now, briefly, for how much will you join
us against the Turks of Grosswardein ? — not count-
ing the booty, which of course will be pretty
considerable."
"Well — that is not so easily said. Of course I
shall have to collect together my twelve companies,
and it will cost something to hold them together and
give them what they want and pay them."
•• At any rate you can name a good round sum for
the services you are going to render us, can't you ?
Come ! how much do you require ? "
The robber chief reflected.
" Well, as it is your honours' own business I hope
your honours won't say that I tax you too highly.
Let us look at the job in this way : suppose I came
to the attack with seventeen companies, and I charge
one thousand thalers for each company. Let us say
each company consists of one thousand men, that
will be a thaler per head — and what is that, 'twill
barely pay for their keep. Thus the whole round
sum will come to seventeen thousand thalers."
" That won't do at all, Master Kdk£nyesdi. 'Twere
a shame to fatigue so many gallant fellows for
nothing, but suppose you bring with you only a
hundred men and the rest remain comfortably at
home? In that case you shall receive from us
seventeen hundred florins in hard cash."
"Pooh!" snapped the robber, "what does your
honour take me for, eh ? Do you suppose you are
dealing with a gipsy chief or a Wallachian bandit,
who are paid in pence ? Why, I wouldn't saddle my
horse for such a trifle, I had rather sleep the whole
time away."
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64 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
u But you have so much treasure besides," observed
Raining naively.
"But we may not break into it," rejoined the
robber angrily.
"Why not?"
" Because we have agreed not to make use of till it
has mounted up to a million florins."
•' And what will you do with it then ? "
"We shall then buy a vacant kingdom from the
Tartar king, where the pasturage is good, and thither
we will go with our men and set up an empire of our
own. We will buy enough pretty women from the
Turks for us all, and be our own masters."
Topay smiled.
"Well" said he, "this seventeen hundred florins of
ours will at any rate purchase one of the counties in
this kingdom of yours." He was greatly amused
that Raining should take the robber's yarn so
seriously, and he pushed the German gentleman
aside. "Mr. Kok^nyesdi," said he, "you have
nothing to do with this worthy man ; he is come with
us only to see the fun, but it is we who pay the
money, and I think we understand each other pretty
well."
"Why didn't you tell me so sooner?" said the
robber sulkily, "then I shouldn't have wasted so
many words. With which of you am I to bargain ? "
"With this young gentleman here," said Topay.
" Ladislaus R£k6czy. I suppose you know him by
report?"
"Know him? I should think I did Haven't I
carded him in my arms when he was little? If it
hadn't been so dark I should have recognised him at
once. Well, as it is he, I don't mind doing him a
good turn. I certainly wouldn't have taken a florin
less from anyone else. I'll take from him the offer
of seventeen hundred thalers."
" Seventeen hundred florins, / said."
" I tell your honour, you said thalers — thalers was
what / heard, and I won't undertake the job for less ;
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THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN. 65
may my hand and leg wither if I move a step for
less."
"Oh, Fll give him his thalers," said Rikdczy,
interrupting the dispute; whereupon the robber
seized the youth's hand and shook it joyfully.
"Didn't I know that your honour was the finest
fellow of the three ? " said the robber. " If, therefore,
you will send these few trumpery thalers a week
hence to the house of the worthy man who guided
you hither, I will be at Grosswardein a week later
with my seventeen hundred fellows."
"But, suppose we pay you in advance, and you
don't turn up ? " said Raining anxiously.
The robber looked at the quartermaster proudly.
"Do you take me for a common swindler?" said
he. Then he turned with a movement of confiding
expansion to the other gentlemen.
" We understand each other better," he remarked.
" Your honours may depend upon me. God be with
you."
With that he turned his horse and galloped off
into the darkness. The three gentlemen were con-
ducted back to Ladiny.
" Marvellous fellow, this Kok&iyesdi," said Raining,
who had scarce recovered yet from his astonishment
" You mustn't believe all the yarns he chooses to
tell you," said Topay.
"What!" inquired Raining. "Had he then no
communications with the French and English
Courts?"
" No more than his grandmother."
"Then how about those treasures of which he
spoke?"
"He himself has never seen them, and he only
talked about them to give you a higher opinion of
him."
" And his castle in the puszta, and his seventeen
companies of freebooters ? "
" He invented them entirely for your honour's
edification. The freebooter is no fool, he lives in
E
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66 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
no castle in the puszta, but in a simple village as
modest Mr. Kokinyesdi, and his seventeen companies
scarcely amount to more than seventeen hundred
men."
" Then why did he consent so easily to take only
seventeen hundred thalers ? "
"Because he does not mean to give his lads a
single farthing of it"
Raining shook his head, and grumbled to himself
all the way home.
In a week's time they sent to Kokdnyesdi the
stipulated money. Raining, moreover, fearing lest
the fellow might forget the fixed time, did not hesitate
to go personally to Vdsirhely, to seek him at his
own door. There stood Master Kokdnyesdi in his
threshing-floor, picking his teeth with a straw.
" Good-day," said the quartermaster.
"If ifs good, eat it," murmured Kok^nyesdi to
himself.
" Don't you know me ? "
" Blast me if I do."
" Then don't you remember what you promised at
theBardtfainn?"
" I don't know where the Baritfa inn is."
"Then haven't you received the seventeen hundred
thalers?"
" What should I receive seventeen hundred thalers
for?"
" Don't joke, the appointed time has come."
"What appointed time?"
"What appointed time? And you who have to
be at Grosswardein with seventeen hundred men ! "
" Seventeen oxen and seventeen herdsmen on their
backs, I suppose you mean."
" Well, a pretty mess we are in now," said Raining
to himself as he wrathfully trotted back to Debreczen,
and as he rushed into Rdk6czy's room exclaiming,
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THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN. 67
"Well, Kokdnyesdi has toasted us finely I w there
stood Kok^nyesdi before his very eyes.
"What, you here?"
" Yes, I am ; and another time your honour will
know that whenever I am at my own place I am not
at home."
It was the Friday before Whit Sunday, and the
time about evening. A great silence rested over the
whole district, only from the minarets of Varalja one
Imftm answered another, and from the tombs one
shepherd dog answered his fellow : it was impossible
to distinguish from which of the two the howling
proceeded.
A couple of turbaned gentlemen were leisurely
strolling along the bastions. Above the palisaded
gate the torso of a square-headed Tartar was visible,
with his elbows resting on the ramparts, holding
his long musket in his hand. The Tartar sentinel
was gazing with round open eyes into the black
night, watching lest anyone should come from the
direction in which he was aiming with his gun, and
blowing vigorously at the lunt to prevent its going
out While he was thus anxiously on the watch, it
suddenly seemed to him as if he discerned the shape
of a horseman approaching the city.
In such cases the orders given to the Osmanli
sentinels were of the simplest description : they were
to shoot everyone who approached in the night-time
without a word.
The Tartar only waited until the man had come
nearer, and then, placing his long musket on the
moulding of the gate, began to take aim with it
But the approaching horseman rode his steed
as oddly as only Hungarian cstkdsoi* can do, for
he bobbed perpetually from the right to the left,
# Horse-dealers.
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68 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
and dodged backwards and forwards in the most
aggravating manner.
" Allah pluck thy skin from off thee, thou drunken
Giaour," murmured the baffled Tartar to himself, as
he found all his aiming useless ; for just as he was
about to apply the lunt, the csik6$ was no longer
there, and the next moment he stood at the very end
of his musket. " May all the seven-and-seventy hells
have a little bit of thee! Why canst thou not
remain still for a moment that I may fire at thee ? "
Meanwhile the shape had gradually come up to
the very gate.
" Don't come any nearer," cried the Tartar, "or I
shan't be able to shoot thee."
" Oh, that's it, is it ? " said the other. " Then why
didn't you tell me so sooner ? But don't hold your
musket so near to me, it may go off of its own
accord."
We recognise in the csikSs Kok^nyesdi, whose
horse now began to prance about to such an extent
that it was impossible for the Tartar to take a fair
aim at it
" I bring a letter for Haly Pasha, from the Defterdar
of Lippa," said the csikds, searching for something in
the pocket of his fur pelisse, so far as his caracolling
steed would allow him. " Catch it if you don't want
to come through the gate for it"
"Well, fling it up here," murmured the sentinel,
" and then be off again, but ride decently that I may
have a shot."
" Thank you, my worthy Mr. Dog-headed Hero ;
but look out and catch what I throw to you."
And with that he drew out a roll of parchment and
flung it up to the top of the gate. The Tartar, with
his eyes fixed on the missive, did not perceive that
the csikSs, at the same time, threw up a long piece of
cord, and the sense of the joke did not burst upon
him until the csikds drew in the noose, and he felt it
circling round his body. Kdk^nyesdi turned round
suddenly, twisted the cord round the forepart of his
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THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN. 69
horse, and clapping the spurs to its side, began
galloping off.
Naturally, in about a moment the Tartar had
descended from the top of the gate without either
musket or lunt, and the cord being well lassoed
round his body, he plumped first into the moat, a
moment afterwards reappeared on the top of the
trench, and was carried with the velocity of lightning
through bushes and briars. Being quite unused to
this mode of progression, and vainly attempting to
cling by hand or foot to the trees and shrubs which
met him in his way, he began to bellow with all his
might, at which terrible uproar the other sentries
behind the ramparts were aroused, and, perceiving
that some horseman or other was compelling one of
their comrades to follow after him in this merciless
fashion, they mounted their horses, and throwing
open the gate, plunged after him.
As for Kok&iyesdi, he trotted on in front of them,
drawing the Tartar horde farther and farther after
him till he reached a willow-wood, when he turned
aside and whistled, and instantly fifty stout fellows
leaped forth from the thicket on swift horses with
csdkdnys* in their hands, so that the pursuing Turks
were fairly caught
They turned tail, however, in double-quick time,
having no great love of the csdkdnys, and never
stopped till they reached the gate of the fortress,
within the walls of which they yelled to their heart's
content, that Kok^nyesdi's robbers were at hand,
had leaped the cattle trench at a single bound, seized
a good part of the herds and were driving the beasts
before them ; whereupon, some hundreds of Spahis set
off in pursuit of the audacious adventurers. When*
however, the robbers had reached the River Koros,
they halted, faced about and stood up to their pursuers
man to man, and the encounter had scarce begun
when the Spahis grew alive to the fact that their
* Long-handled hammers.
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70 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
opponents, who at first had barely numbered fifty,
had grown into a hundred, into two hundred, and at
last into five or six hundred : from out of the thickets,,
the ridges, and the darkness, fresh shapes were con-
tinually galloping to the assistance of their comrades,
while from the fortress the Turks came rushing out
on each other's heels in tens and twenties to the help
of the Spahis, so that by this time the greater
part of the garrison had emerged to pounce upon
Kok6nyesdi's freebooters ; when suddenly, the battle-
cry resounded 'from every quarter and from the other
side of the Koros, whence nobody expected it, the
banderium* of the gentry of B£r6ds£g rushed forth,
and swam right across the river; while from the
direction of Virad-Olaszi, amidst the rolling of drums,
Ladislaus Rdk6czy came marching along with the
infantry of Szathmir.
"Forward!" cried the youth, holding the banner
in his hand, and he was the first who placed his foot
on the storming-ladder. The terrified garrison, after
firing their muskets in the air, abandoned the
ramparts and fled into the citadel.
Rdk6czy got into the town before the Spahis who
were fighting with Kok£nyesdi, and who now, at the
sound of the uproar, would have fled back through
the town to take refuge in the citadel, but came into
collision with the cavalry of Topay, who reached the
gates of the town at the same moment that they did,
and both parties, crowding together before the gates,
desperately tried to get possession of them, during
which tussle the contending hosts for a moment were
wedged together into a maddened mass, in which the
antagonists could recognise each other only from
their war-cries ; when, all at once, from the middle of
the town, a huge column of fire whirled up into the
air, illuminating the faces of the combatants. The
fact was that Kok^nyesdi had hit upon the good idea
of connecting a burning lunt with the tops of the
* Mounted troops.
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THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN. 71
houses, and making a general blaze, so that at least
the people could see one another. By this hideous
illumination the Spahis suddenly perceived that
Rakckzy's infantry had broken through the ramparts
in one place, and that a sturdy young heyduke had
just hoisted the banner of the Blessed Virgin on the
top of the eastern gate.
u This is the day of death," cried the Aga of the
Spahis in despair; and drawing his sword from its
sheath, he planted himself in the gateway, and fought
desperately till his comrades had taken refuge in the
town, and he himself fell covered with wounds. It
was over his body that the Hungarians rushed through
the gates after the flying Spahis.
At that moment a fresh cry resounded from the
fortress : "Ali ! Ali ! " The Pasha himself was advanc-
ing with his picked guards, with the valiant Janissaries,
with those good marksmerf, the Szaracsies, who can
pierce with a bullet a thaler flung into the air, and
with the veteran Mamelukes, who can fight with
sword and lance at the same time. He himself rode
in advance of his host on his war-horse, hi» big red
face aflame with rage ; in front of him his standard-
bearer bore the triple horse-tail, on each side of which
strode a negro headsman with a broadsword.
" Come hither, ye faithless dogs ! Is the world too
narrow for ye that ye come to die here? By the
shadow of Allah, I swear it, ye shall all be sent to
hell this day, and I will ravage your kingdom ten
leagues round. Come hither, ye impure swine-eaters I
Your heads shall be brought to market ; everyone who
brings in the head of a Christian shall receive a ducat,
and he who brings in a captive shall die.' 1
Thus the Pasha roared, stormed, and yelled at the
same time ; while Topay tried to marshal once more
his men who were scattering before the fire of the
Turks, galloping from street to street, and re-forming
his terrified squadrons to make head against the solid
host of the advancing Turks, which was rapidly
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72 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
gaining ground, while Kok^nyesdfs followers only
thought of booty.
" A hundred ducats to him who shoots down that
son of ? dog!" thundered the Pasha, pointing out
the ubiquitous Topay, and, finding it impossible to
get near him, roared after him : " Thou cowardly
puppy ! whither art thou running ? Look me in the
face, canst thou not ? "
Topay heard the exclamation and shouted back
very briefly :
" I saw thy back at BAnfi-Hunyad."*
At this insult Ali Pasha's gall overflowed, and
seizing his mace, he aimed a blow with it at Topay,
when suddenly a sharp crackling cross-fire resounded
from a neighbouring lane, and amidst the thick clouds
of smoke, Rdk6czy's musketeers appeared, sticking
their daggers into their discharged firearms, a practise
to which the bayonet owed its origin at a later day.
The Turkish cavalry, crowded together in the narrow
street, was in a few moments demoralised by this
rapid assault The improvised bayonet told terribly
in the crush, swords and darts were powerless against
it •
"Allah is great!" cried All "Hasten into the
fortress and draw up the bridge, we are only perishing
here. Only the fortress remains to us."
His conductors, against his will, seized his bridle,
and dragged him along with them ; and when a valiant
musketeer, drawing near to him, cut down his charger,
the terrified Pasha clambered up into the saddle of
one of his headsmen, and took refuge behind his
back.
A young Hungarian horseman was constantly on
his track. Nobody could tell Ali who he was, but
one could see from his face that he was the Pasha's
fiercest enemy, and animated by something more
than mere martial ardour. This young horseman
gave no heed to the bullets or blades which were
* See "'Midst the Wild Carpathian*," Book IL, Chapter IV.
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THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN. 73
directed against him ; he was bent only on blood-
shed.
It was young Rdkdczy, to whom bitterness had
given strength a hundredfold. Forcing his way
through the flying hostile rabble, he was drawing
nearer and nearer to AH every moment, cutting down
one by one all who barred the way between him and
the Pasha, and the Turks quailed before his strong
hands and savage looks.
At length they reached the bridge, which was built
upon piles, between deep bulwarks, and led into the
fortress, the front part of whose gate was fortified by
iron plates and huge nails, and could be drawn up to
the gate of the tower by round chains. On the
summit of the tower of the citadel could still be seen
the equestrian statue of St. Ladislaus derisively turned
upside down between the severed legs of two felons.
The Hungarians and the Turks reached the bridge
together so intermingled that the only thing to be
seen was a confused mass of turbans and helmets,
in the midst of a forest of swords and scimitars,
with the banner of the Blessed Virgin cheek by jowl
with the crescented horse-tails.
At the gate of the citadel stood two long widely
gaping eighteen-pounders commanding the bridge,
filled with chain, shot, and ground nails ; but the
Komparajis dare not use their cannons, for in what-
ever direction they might aim, there were quite as
many Turks as Hungarians. On the bridge itself
the foes were fighting man to man. Rdk6czy was at
that moment fighting with the bearer of the triple
horse-tail, striving to take the standard pole with his
left hand, while he aimed blow after blow at his
antagonist with his right
41 Shoot them down, you good-for-nothings ! " roared
AH Pasha, turning back to the inactive and con-
tumacious Komparajis. *Reck not whether your
bullets sweep away as many Mussulmans as Hun-
garians, myself included 1 Sweep the bridge clear,
I say 1 Life is cheap, but Paradise is dear ! "
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74 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
But the gunners still hesitated to fire amongst their
comrades, when Ali sent two drummers to them
commanding them to aim their guns aloft and fire
into the air.
The contest on the bridge was raging furiously;
the Janissaries had placed their backs against the
parapet, and there stood motionless, with their huge
broad-swords in their naked fists, like a fence of
living scythes, tearing into ribbons everything which
came between them.
Then it occurred to a regiment of German Drabants
to clamber up the parapet of the bridge, and tear the
Janissaries away from the parapet; some ten or
twenty of these Drabants did scramble up on the
bridge, when the parapet suddenly gave way beneath
the double weight, and Janissaries and Drabants fell
down into the deep moat beneath, throttling each
other in the water, and whenever a turbaned head
appeared above the surface, the Germans standing at
the foot of the bridge beat out its brains with their
halberds.
Meanwhile, the two fighting heroes in the middle
of the bridge were almost exhausted by the contest.
They had already hacked each other's swords to
piece3, had grasped the banner, the object of the
struggle, with both hands, and were tearing away at
it with ravening wrath.
The Turkish standard-bearer then suddenly pressed
his steed with his knees, making it rear up beneath
him, so that the Turk stood now a head and shoulder
higher than R&k6czy, and threatened either to oust
him from his saddle or tear the standard from his
hand.
At that moment the white figure of a girl appeared
on the summit of the rampart of the tower, her black
locks streaming in the wind, her face aglow with
enthusiasm.
" Heaven help thee, Ladislaus I " cried the girl from
the battlement of the tower ; and the youth, hearing
from on high what sounded like a voice from heaven,
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THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN. 75
recognised it, looked up and saw his bride — a super-
human strength arose in his heart and in his arm,
and when the Turkish standard-bearer made his
charger rear, R&k6czy suddenly let the flag-pole go,
and seizing the bridle of the snorting steed with both
hands, with one Herculean thrust, flung back steed,
rider, and banner through the palisade into the deep
moat below.
44 There is no hope save with God ! " cried Ali in
despair, for his terrified people at the sight of this
prodigy had dragged him along with them against
his will.
"Ladislaus! Ladislaus! My darling!" resounded
from above. The youth was fighting with the strength
often men ; three horses had already been shot under
him, and a third sword was flashing in his hand.
Already he was standing on the drawbridge; his
sweetheart threw down a white handkerchief to him,
and he was already waving it above his head in
triumph, when a well-directed bullet pierced the
young hero's heart, and he collapsed a corpse on the
very threshold of his success, in the very gate of the
captured fortress at the feet of his beloved
At that same instant a heart-rending shriek re-
sounded, and from the top of the tower a white
shape fell down upon the bridge ; the beautiful bride,
from a height of thirty feet, had cast herself down on
the dead body of her beloved, and died at the same
instant as he, mingling their blood together ; and if
their arms did not, at least their souls could, embrace
each other.
This spectacle so stupefied the besiegers, that Ali
Pasha had just time enough swiftly to raise the draw-
bridge and save the fortress and a fragment of his
host Of those who remained outside, not a single
soul survived. Kdk^nyesdi massacred without mercy
everything which distantly resembled a Turk, together
with the camels and mules, sparing nothing but the
horses, and when every house had been well plundered,
he set the town on fire in twelve places, so that the
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76 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
flames in half an hour consumed everything, and the
whole city blazed away like a gigantic bonfire, the
rising wind whirling the smoke and flame over the
ditch towards the fortress.
" AH Pasha may put that in his pipe and smoke
it," said Kok^nyesdi, rejoicing at the magnificent
conflagration.
But the bodies of Ladislaus R4k6czy and his
sweetheart they bore away, and buried them side
by side in the family vault at Rikds.
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CHAPTER VI.
THE MONK OF THE HOLY SPRING.
About a day's journey from Klausenburg there
used to be a famous monastery, whose ruined tower
remains to this day.
Formerly the ample courtyard was surrounded by
a stone wall, massive and strong, within which
crowds of pilgrims, coming from every direction,
found a convenient resting-place. For at the foot of
this monastery was a famous miraculous spring, which
entirely disappeared throughout the winter and
spring, but on certain days in the summer and
autumn was wont to trickle through the crevices of
the rocks, and, for a couple of weeks or so, to bubble
forth abundantly, whereupon it gradually subsided
again.
During this season whole hosts of suffering
humanity, the lame, the paralytic, the aged, the
mentally infirm, and the childless mothers, would
come from the most distant regions ; and the Lord of
Nature gave a wondrous virtue to the waters, and the
sufferers quitted the blessed spring crutchless and
edified, both in body and mind. There could be
seen, hung up on the walls of the church, votive
crutches which the cripples had left behind them ;
and more than one great nobleman, out of gratitude
to the holy spring, enriched the altar with gold and
silver plate.
The larger part of the building was reserved for
noble guests, the common people encamped in the
courtyard beneath tents; and behind the building a
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78 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
splendid garden was laid out, which the worthy
monks always magnificently maintained. Even to
this day, in the grassy patches round about the spot,
it is possible to discover the savage descendants of
many rare and precious flowers.
At the period in which our history falls, the
convent of the holy well was represented by a single
reverend father, whom the* common tongue simply
called Friar Gregory, and there was scarce a soul in
Transylvania who did not know him well. He was
a big man, six feet in height, with a flowing black
beard, swarthy, lean, with a bony frame, and with
hands so big that he could cover a six-pound cannon
ball with each palm. A simple habit covered his
limbs, head-dress he had none, and his broad shining
forehead was without a wrinkle. His droning voice
was so powerful that when he sang his psalms he
made more noise than a whole congregation.
At the times when the holy spring was flowing, the
cellar and pantry of the good friar stood wide open
to rich and poor alike, for whatever he earned in one
year he never put by for the next, and whatever the
wealthy paid to him the needy had the benefit of;
and whenever any clerical colleague happened to
come his way, whether he were Orthodox, Armenian,
Calvinist, or Unitarian, he could not make too much
of him ; all such guests, during their stay, regularly
swam in milk and butter, and remembered it to the
very day of their death.
Just a( this very time the Right Reverend
Ladislaus Magyari's little daughter, Rosy, was
suffering from a complaint which gave the lie to
her healthy name, and her father thought it just as
well to take her to the holy spring, perchance the
healing water would restore to her wan little face the
colour of youth.
Brother Gregory was beside himself with joy ; the
best room was prepared for his right reverend
colleague, and brother cook, brother cellarer, and
brother gardener were ordered to see to it that
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THE MONK OF THE HOLY SPRING. 79
meat, drink, and heaps of flowers were provided for
the honoured guests. No two people in the wide
world were so suited to each other as Father Gregory
and Dean Magyari ; their hearts were equally good,
and each of them had a head upon his shoulders. They
rose up early in the morning to argue with each
other on dogmatic questions — to wit, which faith
was the best, truest, happiest, most blessed, and
surest, and kept it up till late in the evening, by no
means neglecting the frequent emptying of foaming
beakers during the contest, pounding each other
with citations, entangling each other with syllogisms,
flooring each other with authorities, and over-
whelming each other with anecdotes; and it always
ended in their shaking hands and agreeing together
that every faith was good if only a man were true
to himself.
While her father was thus manfully battling,
pretty pale Rosy would be amusing herself in the
garden or by the spring with little girls of her own
age, and the fresh air, the scent of the flowers, and
the beneficent water of the spring gradually restored
to her face its vanished bloom ; and Magyari joyfully
thought how delighted her mother would be if she
were able to embrace her convalescent child, and,
in sheer delight at the idea, spun out his disputatious
evenings whilst Rosy in an adjacent cell was sleeping
the sleep of the just.
The two worthy gentlemen were sitting over their
cups one beautiful evening, when a loud knocking
was heard at the outer gate. The rule was that at
sundown the pilgrim mob was to betake itself to the
courtyard of the cloister, and the gate should be
closed. The friar who kept the gate came to
announce that four queer-looking monks demanded
admission, were they to be let in ?
"There can be no question about it," said Father
Gregory. " If any desire admission, bring them to
us, and provide refreshment for them."
In a few moments the four friars in question
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entered. They were dressed in coarse black sackcloth
habits, with the cowls drawn down over their heads.
All that was to be seen of them was their eyes and
shaggy beards. With deep obeisances, but without a
word, they approached the two reverend gentlemen.
The Father rose politely and greeted them respect-
fully in Latin : " Benedicite nomen Domini." They
only kept on bowing and were silent
" Nomen dei sit benedictum ! " repeated Gregory,
fancying that his guests did not hear what he said,
and as they did not reply to that, he asked with
great astonishment :
-**- / " Non exaildistis nomen gloriosissimi Domini, fratres
amantissimi ? "
At this the foremost of them said : " We do not
understand that language, worthy brother."
"Then what sort of monks are ye? To what
confession do ye belong ? Are ye Greeks ? "
" We are not Greeks."
4t Then are you Armenians ? "
" We are not Armenians."
" Arians, then ? "
" Neither are we Arians."
" Are you Patarenes ? "
" No, we are not."
"Then in gloriam aternt to what order do you
belong?"
"We are robbers," thereupon exclaimed the one
interrogated, throwing aside the fold of his cloak,
beneath which could be seen a belt crammed with
daggers and pistols. " My name is Feri Kok^nyesdi,"
said he, striking his breast
Magyari thereupon leaped from his chair, which he
immediately converted into a weapon; it at once
occurred to him that he had an only daughter to
defend, and he was ready to fight the robbers on
behalf of her. But the father pulled him by the
cassock and whispered : " Pray be quiet, your Rever-
ence," and then with an infinitely placid face he
turned towards the robbers. " So that is the order to
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THE MONK OF THE HOLY SPRING. 81
which you belong," said he, "Still, if you have
come as guests, sit down and eat what you desire."
" But that is not sufficient Outside this monastery
there are 1700 of us, and all of them want to eat and
drink, for it is only the ancient prophets who,
when hungry, were content with the meat of the
Word."
" Let them also satisfy their desires."
" However, the main thing is this : in your Rever-
ence's chapel is a whole lot of very nice gold and silver
saints, who certainly befriend those who sigh after
them, and as we cannot come running to them here
every day in order to entreat their aid, we had
better take them along with us, that they may be
helpful to us on the road."
- Thou hast a pretty mother-wit, frater! Who
could refuse thee anything ? "
" It is also no secret to us, Father Gregory, that
your Reverence's cellar is crammed with kegs full of
good money, silver and gold. May we be allowed to
relieve your Reverence of a little of this burden ? "
" He is quite welcome to it," thought the father,
well aware that there was absolutely nothing at
all.
" Do not imagine, your Reverence," continued the
robber, "that we cannot extort a confession, if it
should oceur to your Reverence to conceal anything.
It would be just as well, therefore, if your Reverence
were to reveal everything before we cut up your back
with sharp thongs."
The brother smiled as good-humouredly as if he were
listening to some pleasing anecdote.
" Have you any other desires, my sons ? "
"Yes, a good many. There is a great crowd
of women collected together in your Reverence's
courtyard. We have taken no # vows of celibacy,
therefore we should like to choose from among them
what would suit us."
Magyari felt the hairs of his head rising heaven-
wards, a cold shiver ran through him from head to
P
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82 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
foot, and he would have risen from his place had not
the monk pressed him down with a frightfully heavy
hand.
" For God's sake, my dear son, do not so wickedly.
Take away the saints from the altar if you like, but
harm not the innocent who are now peacefully
slumbering in the shadow of God's protection."
"Not another word, Brother Gregory," cried the
robber, closing his fist on his dagger, " or I'll set the
monastery on fire and burn every living soul in it,
yourself included. A robber only recognises four
sacraments: wine, money, wenches, and blood I You
may congratulate yourself if we are content with the
third and dispense with the last"
" So it is ! " observed another of the cowled and
bearded robbers, tapping Magyari on the shoulder.
44 Do you recognise me, eh, your Reverence ? "
Magyari, with a sensation of shuddering loathing,
recognised Szdnasi, a canting charlatan whose frauds
he had often exposed.
" We know well enough," said the fellow with an
evil chuckle, "that you have a fair daughter here.
I am going to pay off old scores."
If Magyari had not been well in the brother's grip,
he would have gone for the wretch. Every fibre of
his body was shivering with rage.
Only the brother remained calm and smiling.
Joining his hands together, he made a little mill with
the aid of his two thumbs.
"Wait, my dear son, cannot we come to some
agreement. You know very well that my money is
concealed in barrels, but so well hidden is it that
none besides myself know where it is. Even if you
turned this monastery upside down you would not
find it. You may also have heard that once upon a
time there lived a kind of men called martyrs, who
let themselves be boiled in oil, or roasted on red-hot
fires, or torn in pieces by wild beasts, without saying
a word which might hurt their souls. Well, that is
the sort of man / am. If I make up my mind to
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THE MONK OF THE HOLY SPRING. 83
hold my tongue, you might tear me to bits inch by
inch with burning tweezers, and you would get not a
word nor a penny out of me. Now 'tis for you to
choose. Will you carry off the money and leave the
poor women-folk alone, or will you lay your hands
on the down-trodden, lame, halt, consumptive beggar-
women, whom you will find here, and not see a
farthing ? Which is it to be ? "
The four robbers whispered together. No doubt
they said something to this effect : only let the pater
produce his money, and then it will be an easy
thing for us to take back our given word and satisfy
our hearts' desires. They signified that they would
stand by the money.
u Look now ! you are good men" said the father,
"take these two torches and come with me to the
cellar and go through my treasures, only you must
do none any harm/'
"A little less jaw, please," growled Kok6nyesdL
"Two go in front with the torches, and Brother
Gregory between you. I'll follow after; the magister
can remain behind to look after the other parson.
Whoever speaks a word or makes a signal, I'll bring
my axe down on his head — forward I "
And so it was. Two of the robbers went in front
with torches ; after them came the brother with
Kok6nyesdi at his heels with a drawn dagger in his
hand ; last of all marched Magyari, whom Master
Sz&iasi held by the collar at arm's-length,
threatening him at the same time with a flashing
axe.
Thus they descended to the cellar. The good
father, with timid humility, hid his head in his hood
and looked neither to the left nor to the right
The cellar was provided with a large, double, iron
trap-door. After drawing out its massive bolts, the
worthy brother raised one of its flaps, bidding them
lower the torches for his convenience.
As now the first robber descended and the second
plunged after him, the father suddenly kicked out
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84 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
with his monstrous wooden shoe and brought the
door down on his head, so that he rolled down to the
bottom of the stairs ; and then, quick as thought, he
turned upon Kokdnyesdi, seized his hands, and said
to Magyari :
"You seize the other!"
Koklnyesdi, in the first moment of surprise, thrust
at the brother, but his dagger glanced aside against
the stiff hair-shirt, and there was no time for a second
thrust, for the terrible brother had seized both his
hands and crushed them against his breast with
irresistible force with one hand, while with the other
he dispossessed him of all the murderous weapons in
his girdle one by one, shaking him with one hand as
easily as a grown man shakes a child of nine ; then
he dragged him towards the cellar door, pressing it
down with their double weight so that those below
could not raise it
Mr. Magyari that self-same instant had caught the
magister by the nape of the neck and, mindful of the
wrestling trick he had learnt in his youth when he
was a student at Nagyenyed, quickly floored, and, not
content with that, sat down on the top of him with
his whole weight, so that the poor meagre creature
was flattened out beneath him. Magyari at the
same time relieved his sprawling hands of their
murderous weapons in imitation of the good priest
Kbk£nyesdi admitted to himself that never before
had he been in such a hobble. In a stand-up fight
he had rarely met his equal, and more than once he
had held his own against two or three stout fellows
single-handed ; but never had he had to do with such
a man as Brother Gregory, one of whose hands was
quite sufficient to pin his two arms uselessly to his
side, while with the other hand he explored his
remotest pockets to their ultimate depths and
denuded them of every sort of cutting and stabbing
instrument When the robber realized that even his
gigantic strength was powerless to drag his antagonist
away from the cellar door beneath which his two-
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THE MONK OF THE HOLY SPRING. 8$
comrades were vainly thundering, he endeavoured to
free himself by resorting to the desperate devices of
the wild-beasts, lunging out with his feet and worrying
the iron hand of the monk with his teeth ; whereupon
Brother Gregory also lost his temper and, seizing
Kok6nyesdi by the hair of his head, held him aloft
like a young hare, so that he was unable to scratch or
bite any more.
" Do not plunge about so, dilectissime ; you see it
is of no use/ 1 said the brother, holding the robber so
far away from him by his hairy poll with outstretched
hand that at last he was obliged to capitulate.
"Thou seest what unmercifulness thou dost
compel us to adopt, amantissime 1 " said the brother
apologetically, but still holding him aloft with one
hand and shaking a reproving finger at him with the
other. " Dost thou not shudder at thyself, does not
thine own soul accuse thee for coming to plunder holy
places ? Or dost thou not think of the Kingdom of
Hell to the very threshold of which evil resolves
have misguided thy feet, and where there will be
weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth ? "
" Let me go, you devil of a friar I " gasped the
robber, hoarse with rage.
•* Not until thou hast come to thyself and art sorry
for thy sins." said the brother, still holding in the air
his dilectissime, whose eyes by this time were starting
out of his head because of the tugging pressure on his
hair ; " thou must be sorry for thy sins."
** I am sorry then, only let me go I "
" And wilt thou turn back to the right path ? "
"Yes, yes, of course I will."
" And thou wilt steal no more ?"
" Not a cockchafer."
* Nor curse and swear ? "
" Never no more."
"Very well, then, I'll let thee go. But, colleague
Magyari, first of all tie all these daggers and axes
together and fling them out of the window."
Mr. Magyari, who had meanwhile disposed of
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86 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
the magister by tying his hands and legs so tightly
that he was unable to move a muscle, effected the
clearance confided to him, while Brother Gregory
deposited on the ground his convert, who leaned
against the wall breathing heavily.
" Well, you monk of hell, give me something to
eat if there's anything like a kitchen here."
"Oh, my dear son," said the pater tenderly,
stroking the face of his lambkin ; " believe me, that
there is more joy in heaven over one converted
sinner "
" You're a devil, not a friar ; for if you were a man
of God you could not have got over Kdk£nyesdi so
easily — Kok6nyesdi, who was wont to overthrow
whole armadas single-handed — and now to be beaten
by an unarmed man ! "
* Thou didst come against me with an axe and a
fokos? but I came against thee in the name of the Lord
of Hosts, and He who permitted David the shepherd
to pluck the raging lion by the beard and slay him,
hath aided my arm also in order that I might be a
blessing to thee."
" Blessing indeed ! — hang me up ! I deserve it for
letting myself be collared by a parson."
" Oh, my dear son, to attribute such flagrant cruelty
to me 1 Heaven rejoices not in the death of a
sinner."
"Then let me go!"
" How could I let thee go when thou art but half
converted ? Rather remain here, my son, in this
holy seclusion and try and cleanse thy soul by holy
penance and prayer."
The robber foamed with rage.
" Where is there a nail that I may hang myself
upon it ? "
14 That thou certainly wilt never be able to do, for
a worthy pater shall always be by thy side to teach
thee how to sing the Psalter."
* Sledge-hammer.
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THE MONK OF THE HOLY SPRING. 87
The robber gnashed his teeth and stamped with his
feet as he cast at the terrible brother bloodshot
glances very similar to those which a hyena casts
upon a beast-tamer whom he would like to tear to
bits and grind to mincemeat, but whom he durst not
attack, being well aware that if he but lay a paw or
even cast an eye upon him he will instantly be felled
to the ground.
u Besides that," continued the brother, " by way of
a first trial thou shalt presently deliver a God-fearing
discourse. 19
" I preach a sermon ! "
"Not exactly a sermon, but inasmuch as thy
faithful followers outside the walls of the monastery
may be growing impatient at thy long absence, thou
wilt stand at a window and, after assuring them of
thy heart-felt penitence, thou wilt send the worthy
fellows away that they may depart to their own
homes."
* Very well," said Kok6nyesdi, thinking all the
time, let me once be planted at the window in the
sight of my bands and at a word from me they will
break up the whole monastery, and I will leap out to
them at the first opening.
Then Brother Gregory called Magyari aside and
whispered in his ear : " You meanwhile will get the
carriage ready and take your seat in it with your
daughter, and as soon as you perceive that the rabble
has departed from the monastery, you will drive
straight to Klausenburg and inform Mr. Etani, the
commandant, that a mixed band of freebooters,
together with the garrison of Szathmdr, has invaded
the realm. I detected a helmet beneath a cowl of
one of the rascals I kicked into the cellar. Try to
defend the capital against their attacks. God be with
you!"
The two priests pressed each other's hands, where-
upon Brother Gregory, taking the robber by the arms
and shoving him through a little low door, in order
that no mischief might befall him, caught him by th*
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88 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
nape of the neck and began to force him to ascend a
narrow corkscrew staircase, two or three steps at a
time.
It was evening now and dark, and there was
nothing about the corkscrew staircase to suggest to
the robber whither he was being led till at last the
brother opened a trapdoor with his head and emerged
with him on to a light place and deposited him in
front of a lofty window.
The robber's first thought was that he could clear
the window at a single bold leap, but one swift
glance from the parapet made him recoil with terror ;
beneath him yawned a depth of at least fifty ells,
and, glancing dizzily aloft, he perceived hanging
above his head the bells of the monastery. They
were in the tower.
" So now, my dear son," said the brother, " stand
out on this parapet and call in a loud voice to thy
faithful ones that they may draw nigh and hear thee.
Then thou wilt speak to them, and in case thou
shouldst be at a loss for words, I shall be standing
close by this bell-tongue to suggest to thee what thou
shalt say. But, for God's sake, beware of thyself,
dilectissime ! Thou seest what a frightful depth is
here below thee, and say not to thy faithful followers
anything but what I shall suggest to thee, nor give
with thy head or thy hand an unbecoming
interpretation to thy words, for if thou doest any
such thing, take my word for it that at that same
instant thou shalt fall from this window, and if once
thou dost stumble) thou wilt not stop till thou dost
reach the depths of hell."
The robber stood at the window with his hair erect
with horror. He actually trembled — a thing which
had never occurred to him before. His valour, that
cold contempt for death which had always
accompanied him hitherto, forsook him in this
horrible position. He felt that at this giddy height
neither dexterity nor audacity were of the slightest
use to him. Beneath his feet was the gaping abyss,
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THE MONK OF THE HOLY SPRING. 89
and behind his back was a man with the strength of
a giant from whom a mere push — nay ! the mere
touch of a finger, or a shout a little louder than usual,
were sufficient to plunge him down and dash him
into helpless fragments on the rocks below. The
desperate adventurer, in a fever of terror never felt
before, crouched against one of the pillars of the
window clutching at the wall with his hand, and it
seemed to him as if the wall were about to give way
beneath him, as if the tower were tottering beneath
his feet ; and he regarded the ground below as if it
had some horrible power of dragging him down to it,
as if some invisible force were inviting him to leap
down from there.
Meanwhile his bands, who were lying in ambush
outside the monastery, perceived the form of their
leader aloft and suddenly darted forward in a body
with a loud yell.
" Speak to them, attract their attention ! " whispered
the brother ; a quick, mind what I say ! "
The robber indicated his readiness to comply by a
nod of his swimming head, and repeated the words
which the brother concealed behind the tongue of
the bell whispered in his ear.
•' My friends " (thus he began his speech), " the
priests are collecting their treasures ; they are piling
them on carts ; there are sacks and sacks crammed
with gold and silver."
A hideous shout of joy from the auditors expressed
thorough approval of this sentence.
u But the worthy brethren have no wine or
provisions in this monastery, but in their cellars at
Eger there is plenty, so let two hundred of you go
there immediately and get what you want"
The freebooters approved of this sentiment also.
" As for the desires that you nourish towards the
womenfolk here, I am horrified to be obliged to tell
you that for the last three days the black death, that
most terrible of plagues, which makes the human
body black as a coal even while alive, and infects
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90 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
everyone who draws near it, has been raging within
the walls of this monastery during the last three days.
I should not therefore advise you to break into this
monastery, for it is full of dead and dying men, and
so swift is the operation of this destroying angel that
my three comrades succumbed to it even while I was
ascending this tower, and only the Turkish talisman
I wear, composed of earth seven times burnt, and the
little finger of a baby that never saw the light of day,
have preserved me from destruction."
By the way, Father Gregory had discovered all
these things while he was investigating the robber's
pockets.
At this terrifying message the horde of robbers
began to scatter in all directions from beneath the
walls of the monastery.
"For the same reason neither I myself nor the
treasure of the monastery can leave this place till all
the gold and silver that has been found here has been
purified first by fire, then by boiling, and then by cold
water, lest the black death should infect you by
means of them. And now before making a joint
attack on Klausenburg, as we had arranged — which,
in view of the height of its walls and the strength of
its fortress, would scarcely be a safe job to tackle —
you will do this instead : Hide yourselves in parties
of two hundred in the forests of Magyar-Gorbo,
Vista and Szucsdg, and remain there quietly without
showing yourself on the high road ; at the same time
four hundred of you will go round at night by the
Korod road, and the rest of you will make for the
Gyalu woods, and go round towards Sz&sz Fenes.
Then, when the garrison of Klausenburg hears the
rumour that you are approaching by the Korod road,
they will come forth with great confidence ; and while
some of you will be enticing them further on
continually, the rest of you can fall on the defenceless
town and plunder it. All you have to do is to act in
this way and never show yourselves on the high
road."
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THE MONK OF THE HOLY SPRING. 91
The robbers expressed their approval of their
leader's advice with a loud howl ; and while
Kok^nyesdi tottered back half senseless into the
brother's arms, they scattered amongst the woods
with a great uproar. In an hour's time all that could
be heard of them was a cry or two from the darkened
distance.
The people assembled in the monastery had been
listening to all this in an agony of terror ; only
Magyari understood the meaning of it When the
brother came down from the tower, Koklnyesdi was
locked up with his two comrades, and the two
reverend gentlemen embraced and magnified each
other.
" After God, we have your Reverence to thank for
our deliverance," said Magyari with warm feeling,
holding his trembling little daughter by the hand.
" But now we must save Klausenburg," said
Gregory.
" I will set out this instant ; my horse is saddled."
u Your Reverence on horseback, eh ? How about
the girl?"
" I will leave her here in your Reverence's fatherly
care."
"But think."
"Could I leave her in a better place than within
these walls, which Providence and your Reverence's
fists defend so well ? "
" But what if this robber rabble discover our trick
and return upon the monastery with tenfold fury ? "
"Then I will all the more certainly hasten to
defend the walls of your Reverence, because my only
child will be within them."
With that the pastor kissed the forehead of his
daughter, who at that moment was paler than ever,
fastened his big copper sword to his side, s ized his
shaggy little horse by the bridle, opened the door for
himself, and, with a stout heart, trotted away on the
high road.
But the brother summoned into the chapel the
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92 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
whole congregation, and late at night intoned a
thanksgiving to the Lord of Hosts ; after which
Father Gregory got into the pulpit and preached to
the faithful a powerful and fulminating sermon, in
which he stirred them up to the defence of their
altars, and at the end of his sacred discourse he
seized with one hand the gigantic banner of the
church — which on the occasion of processions three
men used to support with difficulty — and so stirred
up the enthusiastic people that if at that moment the
robbers had been there in front of the monastery,
they would have been capable of rushing out of the
gates upon them with their crutches and sticks and
dashing them to pieces.
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CHAPTER VII.
THE PANIC OF NAGYENYED.
WHILE the priests were girding swords upon their
thighs, while the lame and the halt were flying to
arms in defence of their homes and altars, the chief
commandant of the town of Klausenburg, Mr. Eb£ni,
was calmly sleeping in his bed
The worthy man had this peculiarity that when
any of his officers awoke him for anything and told
him that this or that had happened, he would simply
reply u Impossible ! " turn over on the other side, and
go on slumbering.
Magyari was well aware of this peculiarity of the
worthy man, and so when he arrived home, late at
night, safe and sound, he wasted no time in talking
with Mr. Eb6ni, but opened the doors of the church
and had all the bells rung in the middle of the night
— a regular peal of them.
The people, aroused from its sleep in terror at the
sound of the church-bells at that unwonted hour,
naturally hastened in crowds to the church, where the
reverend gentleman stood up before them and, in
the most impressive language, told them all that he
had seen, described the danger which was drawing
near to them beneath the wings of the night, and
exhorted his hearers valiantly to defend themselves.
The first that Mr. EWni heard of the approaching
mischief was when ten or twenty men came rushing
to him one after another to arouse him and tell him
what the parson was saying. When at last he was
brought to see that the matter was no joke, he leaped
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94 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
from his bed in terror, and for the life of him did not
know what to do. The people were running up and
down the streets bawling and squalling ; the hey-
dukes were beating the alarm drums; cavalry,
blowing their trumpets, were galloping backwards
and forwards — and Mr. Eb&ii completely lost his
head.
Fortunately for him Magyari was quickly by his
side.
41 What has happened ? What's the matter ? What
are they doing, very reverend sir?" inquired the
commandant, just as if Magyari were the leader ot
troops.
"The mischief is not very serious, but it is close at
hand/ 1 replied the reverend gentleman. " A band of
freebooters — some seventeen companies under the
command of a robber chief— have burst into Tran-
sylvania, and with them are some regular horse
belonging to the garrison of Szathmir. At this
moment they cannot be more than four leagues
distant from Klausenburg ; but they are so scattered
that there are no more than four hundred of them
together anywhere, so that, with the aid of the gentle-
men volunteers and the Prince's German regiments,
you ought to wipe them out in detail The first thing
to be done, however, is to warn the Prince of this
unexpected event, for he is now taking his pleasure
at Nagyenyed."
" Your Reverence is right," said EWni," well act at
once;" and, after dismissing the priest to look after
the armed bands and reconnoitre, he summoned a
swift courier, and, as in his confusion he at first
couldn't find a pen and then upset the inkstand over
the letter when he had written it, he at last hurriedly
instructed the courier to convey a verbal message to
the Prince to the effect that the Szathmdrians, in
conjunction with the freebooters, had broken into
/Transylvania with seventeen companies, and were
only four hours' march from Klausenburg, and that
Klausenburg was now preparing to defend itself.
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THE PANIC OF NAGYENYED. 95
Thus Eb6ni gave quite another version to the
parson's tidings, for while the parson had only
mentioned a few horsemen from the Szathmdr
garrison he had put the Szathmirians at the head of
the whole enterprise, and had reduced the distance of
four leagues to a four hours' journey which, in view
of the condition of the Transylvanian roads, made all
the difference.
The courier got out of the town as quickly as
possible, and by the time he had reached his destin-
ation had worked up his imagination to such an
extent that he fancied the invading host had already
valiantly covered the four leagues ; and, bursting in
upon the Prince without observing that the Princess,
then in an interesting condition, was with him, blurted
out the following message :
M The Szathmdr garrison with seventeen bands of
freebooters has invaded Transylvania and is besieging
Klausenburg, but Mr. Eb6ni is, no doubt, still de-
fending himself."
The Princess almost fainted at these words ; while
Apafi, leaping from his seat and summoning his
faithful old servant Andrew, ordered him to get the
carriage ready at once, and convey the Princess
as quickly as possible to Gyula-FehervAr, for the
Szathmir army, with seventeen companies of Hun-
garians, had attacked Klausenburg, and by this time
eaten up Mr. Eb<£ni, who was not in a position to
defend himself.
Andrew immediately rushed off for his horses, had
put them to in one moment, in another moment had
carried down the Princess 1 most necessary travelling
things, and in the third moment had the lady safely
seated, who was terribly frightened at the impending
danger.
The men loafing about the courtyard, surprised at
this sudden haste, surrounded the carriage ; and one
of them, an old acquaintance of Andrew's, spoke to
j him just as he had mounted the box and asked him
what was the matter.
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96 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
" Alas ! " replied Andrew, " the army of Szathmir
has invaded Transylvania, has devastated Klausen-
burg with 17,000 men, and t is now advancing on
Nagyenyed."
Well, they waited to hear no more. As soon as
they perceived the Princess's carriage rolling rapidly
towards the fortress of FehervAr, they scattered in
every direction, and in an hour^s time the whole
town was flying along the FehervAr road. Every-
one hastily took away with him as much as he could
carry ; the women held their children in their arms ;
the men had their bundles on their backs and drove
their cows and oxen before them ; carts were packed
full of household goods; and everyone lamented,
stormed, and fled for all he was worth.
Just at that time there happened to be at Nagy-
enyed the envoy of the Pasha of Buda, Yffim Beg,
who had been sent to the Prince to hasten his march
into Hungary with the expected auxiliary army, and
who absolutely refused to believe Teleki that they
ought to remain where they where, as it was from the
direction of Szathmir that an attack was to be feared.
The worthy Yffim Beg was actually sitting in his
bath when the panic-flight took place ; and, alarmed
at the noise, he sprang out of the water, and wrapping
a sheet round him rushed to the window, and per-
ceiving the terrified flying rabble, cried to one pf the
passers-by : " Whither are you running ? What is
going on here?"
"Alas, sir!" panted the breathless fugitive, "the
Szathmdr army, 27,000 strong, has invaded Tran-
sylvania, has taken everything in its road, and is now
only two hours' march from Nagyenyed."
This was quite enough for Yffim Beg also. Hastily
tying the bathing-towels round his body and without
his turban, he rushed to the stables, flung himself on
a barebacked steed and galloped away from Nagy-
enyed without taking leave of anyone ; and did not
so much as change his garment till he reached
Temesvir, and there reported that the countless
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THE PANIC OF NAGYENYED. 97
armies of Szathmdr had conquered the whole of
Transylvania !
Thus Teleki had gained his object : the Tran-
sylvanian troops had now good reasons for staying at
home. Yet he had got much more than he wanted,
for he had only required of Kaszonyi a feigned attack,
whereas the band of Kokenyesdi had ravaged Tran-
sylvania as far as Klausenburg.
The fact that the worthy friar and Mr. Ladislaus
Magyari had captured the leader of the freebooters
made very little difference at all, for the crafty adven-
turer had bored his way through the wall of his
dungeon that very night, and had escaped with his
three comrades.
Early next morning, on perceiving that his captives
had escaped, Father Gregory was terribly alarmed,
imagining that they would now bring back the whole
robber band against him ; and, hastening immediately
to collect the whole of the pilgrims, loaded wagons
with the most necessary provisions and the treasures of
the altar, conducted them among the hills, and there
concealed them in the Cavern of Balina, carrying the
sick members of his flock one by one across the
mountain-streams in front of the cavern and deposit-
ing them in the majestic rocky chamber, which more
than once had served the inhabitants of the surround-
ing districts as a place of refuge from the Tartars,
having a large open roof through which the smoke
could get out, while a stream flowing through it kept
them well supplied them with drinking-water. In an
hour's time fires and ovens, made from fresh leaves
and mown grass, stood ready in the midst of the
place of refuge; and on a stone pedestal, in the
background, always standing ready for such a
purpose, an altar was erected.
Meanwhile Kokenyesdi had hastened to overtake
his bands which had scattered at the word of the
brother in order to re-unite them before the people of
Klausenburg could capture them in detail. Sz£nasi
he dispatched to call back the wanderers who had
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98 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
been sent to the cellars tA Eger and besiege the
monastery.
When Sz6nasi returned with the two hundred
hungry men he only found empty walls, and to
make them emptier still — he burnt them down to the
ground.
He then sat down, and by the light of the
conflagration wrote a sarcastic letter to Teleki, in
which he informed him with a great show of humility
that he had made the required diversion against
Transylvania, that he kissed his hand, that he might
command him at any future time, and that he was
his most humble servant
He had scarcely sent off the letter by a Wallachian
gipsy, picked up on the road, when he saw a company
of horsemen galloping towards the burning monastery,
and recognised in the foremost fugitive Kok6nyesdi.
"It is all up with us!" cried the robber chief
from afar, " we are surrounded. All the parsons in
the world have become soldiers, and turned their
swords against us as if they were Bibles. The
Calvinist pastor, the Catholic friar, the Greek priest,
and the Unitarian minister — every man jack of them
has placed himself at the head of the faithful, and are
coming against us with at least twenty thousand
men: students, artisans and peasants, the whole
swarm is rushing upon us. I and fifty more were
set upon by the whole Guild of Shoemakers, who cut
down twenty of my men ; they were all as mad as
hatters, and when the peasants had done with us, the
gentlemen took us up : they united with the German
dragoons, and pursued my flying army on horseback.
Every bit of booty, every slave they have torn from
us; this Calvinist Joshua is always close on my
heels, not a single one of our infantry can be
saved/'
The robber chief behaved as the leader of robber
bands usually do behave. When he had to fight, he
fought among the foremost ; but when he had to run,
then also he was well to the front. When he was
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THE PANIC OF NAGYENYED. 99
beaten, he cared not a jot whether the others got off
scot-free, he only thought of saving himself.
When he had announced the catastrophe from
horseback to the terrified Sz£nasi, he clapped spurs
to his nag, and, without looking back to see whether
anyone was following him, he galloped off, and left
Szlnasi in the lurch with the footmea
The fox is always most crafty when he falls into
the snare. The perplexed hypocrite perceived that
however quickly he might try to escape, the cavalry
would overtake him at Grosswardein and mow him
down. Unfortunately, he knew not how to ride, and
therefore could not hope to save himself that way.
Already the trumpets of the Transylvanian bands
were blaring all around him ; fiery beacons of pitchy
pines were beginning to blaze out from mountain-
top to mountain-top ; on every road were visible the
flying comrades of Kok£nyesdi, terrifying one another
with their shouts of alarm as they rushed through the
woods and valleys, not daring to take refuge among
the snowy Alps, where the axes of the enraged
Wallachians flashed before their eyes ; and there was
not a single road on which they did not run the risk
of being trampled down by the Hungarian banderia
and the German dragoons.
In that moment of despair Sz£nasi quickly flung
himself into the garments of a peasant, climbed up to
the top of a tree, and as soon as he perceived the first
band of German horsemen approaching him, he
called out to them.
a God bless you, my noble gentlemen 1 "
They looked up at these words and told the man
to come down from the tree.
" No doubt you also have taken refuge from the
robbers, poor man i "
"Ah! most precious gentlemen! they were not
robbers, but German soldiers in Hungarian uniforms
who had been sent hither from Szathmir. Take care
how you pursue them, for if your German soldiers
should meet theirs, it might easily happen that they
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would join together against you. I heard what they
were saying as I understand their language, but I
pretended that I did not understand; and while
they made me come with them to show them the
road, they began talking among themselves, and they
said that they had had sure but secret information
from the Klausenburg dragoons that they were going
to attack the town. The Devil never sleeps, my noble
gentlemen 1 "
The good gentlemen were astounded ; the intelli-
gence was not altogether improbable, and as, just
before, a vagabond had been captured who could
speak nothing but German, a mad rumour spread
like wild-fire among the Magyars that the dragoons-
had an understanding with the enemy and wanted
to draw them into an ambush ; and so the gentle-
men told the students, and the students told the
mechanics, and by the time it reached the ears of
Eb£ni and the parsons, there was something very like
a mutiny in the army. The gentry suggested that
the Germans should be deprived of their swords and
horses ; the students would have fought them there
and then ; but the most sensible idea came from the
Guild of Cobblers, who would have waited till they
had lain down to sleep and then bound and gagged
them one by one.
Master Sz£nasi meanwhile went and hunted up the
dragoons, whom he found full of zeal for the good
cause entrusted to them, and had a talk with them.
u Gentlemen I " said he, " what a pity it is, but look
now at these Hungarian gentlemen I Well, they are
shaking their fists at you, so look to yourselves.
Someone has told them that you are acting in
concert with the people of Szathmdr, so they won't
go a step further until they have first massacred the
whole lot of you."
At this the German soldiers were greatly embittered.
Here they were, they said, shedding their blood for
Transylvania, and the only reward ihey got was to be
called traitors 1 So they sounded the alarm, collected
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THE PANIC OF NAGYENYED. 101
their regiments together, took up a defensive position,
and for a whole hour the camp of Mr. Eb6ni was
thrown into such confusion that nothing was easier
for Master Szlnasi than to hide himself among the
fugitives. All night long Mr. Eb£ni suffered all the
tortures of martyrdom. At one time he was besieged
hy a deputation from the Magyars, who demanded
satisfaction, confirmation, and Heaven only knows
what else; while the worthy parsons kept rushing
from one end of the camp to the other, with great
difficulty appeasing the uproar, enlightening the half-
informed, and in particular solemnly assuring both
parties that neither the Hungarian gentlemen wanted
to hurt the Germans nor the Germans the Hungarians,
till light began to dawn on them, and the reconciled
parties were convinced, much to their astonishment,
that the whole alarm was the work of a single crafty
adventurer who clearly enough had gained time to
escape from the pursuers when they had him in their
very clutches.
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CHAPTER VIII.
THE SLAVE MARKET AT BUDA-PESTH.
In the middle of the sixteenth century, Haji Baba,
the most celebrated slave-dealer of Stambul, having
t>een secretly informed beforehand, by acquaintances
in the Seraglio, that a great host would assemble
that summer beneath Pesth, hastily filled his ship
with wares before his business colleagues had got an
inkling of what was going to happen ; and, steering r
his bark with its precious load through the Black
Sea and up the Danube, reachedkPesth some time
before the army had concentrated toere.
Casting anchor in the Danube, he adorned his
vessel with oriental carpets and flowers, and placing
a band of black eunuchs in the prow of the vessel
with all sorts of tinkling musical instruments, he set
about beating drums till the sound re-echoed from
the hills of Buda.
The Turks immediately assembled on the bastions
of the castle of Buda right opposite, and perceiving
the bedizened ship with its flags streaming from the
mast and sweeping the waves, thereby giving every-
one who wanted to know what 6ort of wares were
for sale there, got into all sorts of little skiffs and let
themselves be rowed out thither.
The loveliest damsels in the round world were
there exhibited for sale.
As soon as the first of the Turks had well in-
toxicated himself with the sight of the sumptuous
wares, he hastened back to get his money and come
again, telling the dozen or so of his acquaintances
>
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THE SLAVE MARKET AT BUDA-PESTH. 103
whom he met on the way what sort of a spectacle he
had seen with no little enthusiasm, and in a very
short time hundreds more were hastening to this ship
which offered Paradise itself for sale.
Hassan Pasha, the then Governor of Buda, per-
ceiving the throng from the windows of his palace,
and ascertaining the cause, sent his favourite Yffim
Beg to forbid the market to the mob tjll he, the
general, had chosen for himself what girls he wanted ;
and if there was any one of the slave-girls worthy of
consideration, he was to buy her for his harem.
Yffim Beg hastened to announce the prohibition, *
and when the skiffs had departed one by one from f
the ship, he got into the general's curtained gondola,
and had himself rowed over to the ship of Haji
Paba.
The man-seller, perceiving the state gondola on its
way to him, went tpflhe ship's side, and waited with
a woe-begpne face-'till it had come alongside, and
stretched forth his long neck to Yffim Bejj that he
might clamber up it on to the deck.
The Beg, with great condescension, informed the
merchant that he had come on behalf of the Vizier of
Buda, who was over all the Pashas of Hungary, to
choose from among the wares he had for sale.
Haji Baba, on hearing this, immediately cast him-
self to the ground^ind blessed the' day which had
risen on these hills, and the water and the oars which .
had brought the Beg thither, and even the mother
who4iad made the slippers in which Yffim Beg had
mourned his ship.
Then he kissed the Beg's hand, and having, as a
still greater sign of respect, boxed the ears of the
eunuch who happened to be nearest to the Beg, for
his impertinence in daring to stand so near at all, led
Yffim into the most secret of his secret chambers.
Heavy gold-embroidered hangings defended the entry
to the interior of the ship ; after this came a second
curtjHfi of dark-red silk, and through this were already
atf^bBt sweet songs and* twittering, and when this
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104 THE SLAVES OF THE # PADISHAH.
curtain was drawn aside by its golden tassels, a third
muslin-like veil still stood in front of the cntrmce
through which one could look into the room beyond
without being seen by those inside.
Fourteen damsels were sporting with one another.
Some of them darting in and out from between the
numerous Persian curtains suspended from the ceiling,
and laughing aloud when they caught each other ;
one was strumming a mandoline ; five or six were
dancing a round dance to the music, of softly sung
songs ; another group was swinging one another on
a swing made from costly shawls. All of them were
so young, all of them were of such superior loveliness,
that if the heart had allowed the eye alone to choose
for it, mere bewilderment would have made selection
impossible.
Yffim Beg gazed for a long time with the in-
difference of a connoisseur, but even his face relaxed
at last, and smilingly tapping the merchant on the
shoulder, he said to him :
"You have been filching from Paradise, Haji
Baba!"
Haji Baba crossed his hands over his breast and
shook his head humtyy.
u All these girls are my pupils, sir. There is not
one of them jvho resembles her dear mother. Fron
their tenderest youth they have grown up beneath
my fostering care; I do no business with grown-up,
captured slave-girls, for, as a rule, they only weep
themselves to death, grow troublesome, wither away
before their time, and upset all the others. I buy the
girls while they are babies ; it costs a mint of money
and no end of trouble before such a flower expinds,
but at least he who plucks it has eveiy reason to
rejoice. Look, sir, they are all equally perfect 1
Look at that slim lily there dancing on the angora
carpet I Did you ever see such a figure am where
else? % How she sways from side to side like the .
flowering branch of a banyan tree! That is a
Georgian girl whom . 1 purchased before she was
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THE SLAVE MABKET AT BUDA-PESTH. 105
born. Her father when he married had not money : i
enough Cor the wedding-feast, so he came to rh» and
sold for a hundred denarii the very first child of his
that should, be born. Yes, sir, not much money, I
know, but suppose the child had never been born ?
And suppose it had been a son ! And how often too,
and how easily I might have, been cheated ! I am
sure you tould not say that five hundred ducats was
too much for her if I named that price. Look, how
she stamps down her embroidered slippers! Ah,
what legs! I don't believe you could find such
round, white, smooth little legs anywhere else ! Her
price, sir, is six Hundred ducats."
Yffim Beg listened to the trader with the air of a
connoisseur. *
"Or, perhaps, you would prefer that melancholy
virgin yonder, who has sought solitude and is lying
beneath the shade of that rose-tree ? Look, sir, what
a lot of rose-trees I have all about the place ! My
girls can never bear to be without rose-trees, for roses
go best with damsels, and the fragrance of the rose is
the best teacher of love. That Circassian girl yonder
was captured along with her father and mother ; the
husband, a rough fellow, slew his wife lest she should
fall into our hands, but he had no time to kill his
child, for I took her, and now I would not sell her
for less than seven hundred ducats ; there's no hurry,
for she is still quite a child."
Here Yffim Beg growled something or other.
M Now that saucy damsel swinging herself to and
fro on the shawl," continued the dealer, "I got in
China, where her parents abandoned her in a public
place. She does not promise much at first sight, but
touch her and you'll fancy you are in contact with
warm velvet I would let you have her, sir, for
five hundred ducats, but I should charge anyone else
as much again."
Yffim Beg nodded approvingly.
" And now do you see that fair damsel who, with a
gold comb, is combing out tresses more precious than
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106 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
'-., gpld ; she came to me from the northern islands,
; from a ship which the Kapudan Pasha sent to the
^bottom of the sea. I don't ask you if you ever saw
such rich fair tresses before, but I do ask you whether
you ever saw before a mortal maid with such a
blindingly fair face? When she blushes, it is just as
if the dawn were touching her with rosy finger-tips."
"Yes, but her face is painted," said Yffim Beg
suspiciously.
" Painted, sir ! " exclaimed Haji Baba with dignity.
14 Painted faces at my shop 1 Very well I come and
convince yourself."
And, tearing aside the muslin veil, he entered the
apartment with Yffim Beg.
At the sight of the men a couple of the charming
hoydens rushed shrieking behind the tapestries, and
only after a time poked their inquisitive little heads
through the folds of the curtains ; but the Georgian
beauty continued to dancej^hfe Chinese damsel went
on swinging more provocatively than ever ; the beauty
from the northern islands allowed her golden tresses
to go on playing about her shoulders ; a fresh, tawny
gipsy-girl, in a variegated, elaborately fringed dress,
with ribbons in her curly hair, stood right in front of
the approaching Beg, eyed him carefully from top
to toe, seized part of his silken caftan, and rubbed it
between her fingers, as if she. wanted to apptaise its
value to a penny ; while a tiny little negro girl with
gold bracelets round her hands and legs, fumigated
the entering guest with ambergris, naively smiling
at him all the time with eyes like pure enamel and
lips as red as coral.
The robber-chapman was right, there was not one
of these girls who felt ashamed. They looked at the
purchaser with indifference and even complacency,
and everyone of them tried to please him in the hope
that he would take them where they would have lots
of jewels and fine clothes, and slaves to wait on
them.
Haji Baba led the Beg to tbf above-mentioned
C7
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THE SLAVE MARKET AT BUDA-PESTH. 107
beauty, and raising the edge of her white garment
and displaying her blushing face, rubbed it hard, and
when the main texture remained white, he turned
triumphantly to the seller.
44 Well, sir 1 I sell painted faces, do I ? Do you
suppose that every orthodox shah, emir, and khan
would have any confidence in me if I did? Will
you not find in my garden those flowers which the
Sultana Valideh presents to the greatest of Emperors
on his birthday, and which in a week's time the
Sultan gives in marriage to those of his favourite
Pashas whom he delights to honour ? Why, I don't
keep Hindu bayaderes simply because they stain
their teeth with betel-root and orange yellow, and
gild their eyebrows; accursed be he who would
improve upon what Allah created perfect ! The black
girl is lovely because she is black, the Greek because
she is brown, the Pole because she is pale, and the
Wallach because she 4s ftiddy?- there are some who
like blonde, and some who like dark tresses; and
fire dwells in blue eyes as well as in black; and
God has created everything that man may rejoice
therein.' 9
While the worthy man-filcher was thus pouring
himself forth so enthusiastically, Yffim Beg. with a
very grave face, was gazing round the apartment,
drawing aside every curtain and gazing grimly at the
dwellers behind them, who, clad in rich oriental
garments, were reclining on divans, sucking sugar-
plums and singing songs.
Haji Baba was at his back the whole time, and
had so much to say of the qualifications of every
damsel they beheld, that the Turkish gentleman
must have been sorely perplexed which of them to
choose.
He had got right to the end of the apartment, when
unexpectedly peeping into the remotest corner, he
beheld a damsel who seemed to be entirely different
from all the rest She was wrapped in a simplt : .
white wadding-like garment, only her head wa£
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108 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH. .
visible ; and when the Beg turned towards her, both
his eyes and his mouth opened wide, and he stood
rooted to the spot before her.
It was the face of the Queen in the Kingdom of
Beauty. Never had . he seen such a look, such
burning, glistening, flashing eyes as hers ! The proud,
free temples, beneath which two passionate eye-
brows sparkled like rainbows, even without a diadem
dispensed majesty. At the first glance she seemed
as savage as Diana surprised in her bath,, at the next
she was as timorous as the flying Daphne ; gradually
a tender smile transformed her features, she looked
in front of her with a dazed expression like betrayed
Sappho gazing at the expanse of ocean in which she
would fain extinguish her burning love.
" Chapman ( " cried the Beg, scarce able to contain
himself for astonishment, " would you deceive me by-
hiding away from me a houri stolen from heaven?"
" I assure you, sir," said" the chapman, with a look
of terror, * that it were better for you if you turned
away and thought of her no more."
u Haji Baba, beware! if perchance you would sell
her to another, or even keep her for yourself, you run
the risk of losing more than you will ever make up
again."
M I tell you, sir, by the beard of my father, look not
upon that woman."
* Hum ! Some defect perhaps I " thought Yffim t£
' himself, and he beckoned to the girl to let down her
garment. She immediately complied, and, stancmig
tip, stripped her light mantle from her limbs.
Ah! how the Beg's eyes sparkled He half
believed that what %ie saw was not human, but a
vision from fairv-land. The damsel's shape was as
perfect as a marble statue carved expressly for the
ahar of the Goddess of Love, and the silver hoop
encircling her body only seemed to bv there as a
girdle in order to show how much whtttr than silver
was her body, P
* Curses on your tongue, vile chatterer | rt said Yffim
; ^
THE SLAVE MARKET AT BUDA-PESTH. 109
Beg, turning upon the chapman. " Here have you
been wasting an hour of my time with your empty
twaddle, and hiding the beauties of Paradise from
my gaze. What's the price of this damsel ?"
" Believe me, sir, she won't do for you/'
" What 1 thou man-headed dog 1 Dost fancy thou
hast to do with beggars who cannot give thee what
thou askest? I come hither to buy for Hassan
Pasha, the Governor of Buda, who is wont to give
two thousand ducats to him who asks him for one
thousand."
At these words the damsel's face was illuminated
by an unwonted smile, and at that moment her large,
fiery eyes flashed so at Yffim Beg that his eyes could
not have been more blinded if he had been walking
on the seashore and two suns had flashed simul-
taneously in his face, one from the sky and the other
from the watery mirror.
" It is not that," said the slave merchant, bowing
himself to the ground ; "on the contrary, I'll let you
have the damsel so cheaply that you will see from
the very price that I had reserved her for one of the
lowest mushirl, in case he should take a fancy to her
— you shall have her for a hundred dinars."
"Thou blasphemer, thou I Dost thou cheapen in
this fashion the masterpieces of Nature. Thou
shouldst ask ten thousand dinars for her, or have a
stroke on the soles of thy feet with a bamboo for
every dinar thou askest below that price."
The merchant's face grew dark.
"Take her not, sir," said he; "you will be no
friend to yourself or to your master if you would
bring her into his harem."
" I suppose," said the Beg, " that the damsel has a l f*'\
rough voice, and that is why she is going so cheaply ? " Vv*-; x
and he ordered her to sing a song to him if she knew
one.
" Ask her not to do that, sir 1 " implored the chap-
man. But, already, he was too late. At the very
first word the girl had laid hold of a mandolin, and
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no THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
striking the chords till they sounded like the breeze
on an aeolian harp, she began to sing in the softest;
sweetest, most ardent voice an Arab love-song :
"In the rose-groves of Shiraz,
In the pale beams of moonlight,
In the burning heart's slumber,
Love ever is born.
11 'Midst the icebergs of Altai,
On the steps of the scaffold,
In the fierce flames of hatred,
Love never can die."
The Beg felt absolutely obliged to rush forthwith
upon Haji Baba and pummel him right and left for
daring to utter a word to put him off buying the
damseL
The slave-dealer patiently endured his kicks and
cuffs, and when the jest was over, he said once more :
* And again I have to counsel you not to take the
damsel for your master."
u What's amiss with her, then, thou big owl?
Speak sense, or I'll hang thee up at thine own
masthead."
"I'll tell you, sir, if only you will listen. That
damsel has not belonged to one master only, for I
know for certain that five have had her. All five, sir,
have perished miserably by poison, the headman's
sword, or the silken cord. She has brought mis-
fortune to every house she has visited, and she has
dwelt with Tartars, Turks, and Magyars. Against
the Iblis that dwells within her, prophets, messiahs,
and idols have alike been powerless ; ruin and des-
truction breathe from her lips ; he who embraces her
has his grave already dug for him, and he who looks
at her had best have been born without the light of
his eyes. Therefore I onoe more implore you,^ir, to
let this damsel go to some poor mushir, whose bead
may roll off without anybody much caring,. and do
not convey danger to so high a house as the palaoe
of Hassan Pasha. 11
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THE SLAVE MARKET AT BUDA-PESTH. in
The Beg shook his head.
" I thought thee a sharper, and I have found thee
a blockhead/' said he, and he signified to the damsel
to wrap herself in her mantle and follow him.
" Allah is my witness that I warned you ; I wash
my hands of it/' stammered Haji Baba.
" The girl will follow me ; send thou for the money
to my house."
"The Prophet seeth my soul, sir. If you are
determined to take the damsel, / will not give her to
you for money, lest so great a man may one day say
that he bought ruin from me. Take her then as a
gift to your master."
"But I have forgotten to ask the damsel's name?"
"I will tell you, but forget not every time that
name passes your lips to say : ' Mashallah ! ' for that
woman's name is the name of the devil, and doubtless
she does not bear it without good cause, nor will she
ever be false to it"*
" Speak, and chatter not 1 "
" That damsel's name is Azrael • • Allah is
mighty I "
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CHAPTER IX.
THE AMAZON BRIGADE.
It was three days since Azrael had come into the
possession of Hassan Pasha, and in the evening of
the third day Hajt Baba was sitting in the prow of
his ship and rejoicing in the beautiful moonlight
when he saw, a long way off, in the direction of the
Margaret island a skiff, and then another skiff, and
then another, row across the Danube, and heard
heart-rending shrieks which only lasted for a short
time.
Presently the skiffs disappeared among the trees
on the river bank, the last hideous cry died away,
and from the rose-groves of the castle came a
romantic song which resounded over the Danube
through the silent night. The merchant recognised
the voice of the odalisk, and listened attentively to it
for a long time, and it seemed to him as if through
this song those shrieks were passing incessantly.
The next day Yffim Beg came to see him, and the
merchant hospitably welcomed him. He set before
him a narghile and little cups of sherbet, and then
they settled down comfortably to their pipes, but
neither of them uttered a word.
Thus a good hour passed away ; then at last Haji
Baba opened his mouth.
" During the night I saw some skiffs row out
: towards the island, and I heard the sound of stifled
shrieks."
• And then they both continued to pull away at their
narghiles, and another long hour passed away.
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THE AMAZON BRIGADE. 113
Then Yffim Beg arose, pressed the hand of Haji
Baba, and said, just as he was moving off :
"They were the favourite damsels of Hassan
Pasha, who had been sewn up in leathern sacks and
flung into the water."
Haji Baba shook his head, which signifies with a
Turk : I anticipated that
Not long afterwards the whole host began to
assemble below Pesth, encamping on the bank of the
Danube ; a bridge suddenly sprang into sight, and
across it passed army corps, heavy cannons and
wagons. First there arrived from Belgrade the Vizier
Aga, with a bodyguard of nine thousand men, and
pitched their tents on the RAkds ; after him followed
Ismail Pasha, with sixteen thousand Janissaries, and
their tents covered the plain. The Tartar Khan's
disorderly hordes, which might be computed at forty
thousand, extended over the environs of VAcz ; and
presently Prince Ghyka also arrived with six thousand
horsemen, and along with him the picked troops of
the Vizier of Buda ; the whole army numbered about
one hundred thousand.
So Haji Baba did a roaring trade. There were
numerous purchasers among so many Turkish
gentlemen ; there was something to suit everyone,
for the prices were graduated ; and Haji thought he
might perhaps order up a fresh consignment from his
agents at Belgrade, hoping to sell this off rapidly so
long as the camp remained. But he very much
wanted to know how long the concentration would
go on, and how many more gentlemen were still
expected to join the host, and with that object he
sought out Yffim Beg.
The Beg answered straightforwardly that nearly
everyone who had a mind to come was there already.
The Prince of Transylvania had treacherously
absented himself from the host, and only Kucsuk
Pasha and young Feriz Beg's brigades were still
expected ; without them the army would move no
farther.
H
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H4 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
At the mention of these names Haji Baba started.
" You have as good as made me a dead man, sir.
I must now go back to Stambul with my whole
consignment"
"Art thou mad?"
" No, but I shall become bankrupt, if I wait for
these gentlemen. Never, sir, can I live in the same
part of the world, sir, with those fine fellows, whom
may Allah long preserve for the glory of our nation !
I have two houses on the opposite shores of the
Bosphorus, so that when these noble gentlemen are
in Europe I may be in Asia, and when they come to
Asia I may sail over to Europe."
" Thou speakest in riddles.*
"Then you have not heard the fame of Feriz
Beg?"
"I have heard him mentioned as a valiant
warrior."
" And how about the brigade of damsels which is
wont to follow him into battle ? "
Yffim Beg burst out laughing at these words.
a It is easy for you to laugh, sir, for you have
never dealt in damsels like me. But you should
know that what I tell you is no jest, and Feriz Beg
is as great a danger to every man who trades in
women as plague or small-pox."
" I never heard of this peculiarity of his."
" But I have. I tell you this Feriz Beg is a youth
with magic power, in whose eyes is hidden a talisman,
whose forehead is inscribed with magic letters, and from
whose lips flow sorcery and magic spells, so that
whenever he looks upon a woman, or whenever she
hears his words even through a closed door, that
woman is -lost for ever. Just as he upon whom the
moon shines when he is asleep is obliged to follow
the moon from thenceforth, so, too, this young man
draws after him with the moonbeams of his eyes all
the women who look upon him. Ah I many is the
great man who has cursed the hour in which Feriz
Beg galloped past his windows and thereby turned
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THE AMAZON BRIGADE. 115
the heads of the most beauteous damsels. Even the
Grand Vizier himself has wept the loss of his
favourite bayadere Zaida, who descended from his
windows by a silken cord into the sea, and swam
after the ship which bore along Feriz Beg ; and one
night my kinsman, Kutub Alnuma, who is a far
greater slave merchant than I am, was, while he
slept, tied hand and foot by his own damsels to whom
he heedlessly had pointed out Feriz Beg, and the
whole lot incontinently ran after him."
" And what does the youth do with all these
women ? " '
" Oh, sir, that is the most marvellous part of the
whole story. For if he culled all the fairest flowers of
earth for the sake of love, I would say that he was a
wise man, who tasted the joys of Paradise before-
hand. But it is quite another thing, sir. You will be
horrified when I tell you that he at whose feet all the
beauties of earth fling themselves, never so much as
greets one of them with a kiss."
" Is he sick, then, or mad ?"
44 He loves another damsel, a Christian girl, who is
far from here, and for whom he has pined . from the
days of his childhood. At the time of his first battle
he saw this girl for the first time, and as often as he
has gone to war since, it is always with her name
upon his lips that he draws his sword."
" And what happens to the girls he takes away ? "
"When the first of these flung themselves at his
feet, offering him their hearts and their very lives and
imploring him to kill them if he would not requite
their love, to them he replied : 4 You have not been
taught to love as I love. Your love awoke io the
shadows of rose-bushes, mine amidst the flashing of
swords ; you love sweet songs, and the voice of the
nightingale, I love the soundof the trumpet If you
would love me, love as I do ; if you would be with
m^, come whither I go ; and if Allah wills it, die
where t die.' Ah, sir, there is an accursed charm on
the lips of this young man. He destroys the hearts
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of the damsels with his words so that they forget that
Allah gave them to men as playthings and delightful
toys, and they gird swords upon their tender thighs,
fasten cuirasses of mail round their bosoms, and
expose their fair faces to deadly swords."
" And do these women really fight, or is it all a
fable?"
"They do wonders, sir. No one has ever seen
them fly before the . foe, and frequently they are
victorious ; and if they have less strength in their
arms than men, they have ten times more fire in
their hearts. And if at any one point the fight is
most dogged, and the enemy collecting together his
most valiant bands has tired out the hardly-pressed
spahis and timariots, then the youth draws his sword
and plunges into the blackest of mortal peril. And
then the wretched women all plunge blindly after
him, and each one of them tries to get nearest to
him, for they know that every weapon is directed
against him, and they ward of with their bosoms the
bullets which were meant for him. And so long as
the youth remains there, or presses forward, they
never leave him, the whole battalion perishes first
And at last, if he wins the fight and remains master
of the field, the youth dismounts from his horse,
collects the bodies of the slain who have fallen
fighting beside him, kisses them one by one on their
foreheads, sheds tears on their pale faces, and with
his own hands lays them in the grave. And, believe
me, sir, these bewitched, enchanted damsels are mad
after that kiss, and their only wish is to gain it as
soon as possible/'
" And is there none to put an end to this scandal ?
Have the generals no authority to abolish this
abomination ? Do not the outraged owners demand
back their slave-girls ? "
" You must know, sir, that Feriz Beg stands high
in the favour of the Sultan. He is never prominent
anywhere but on the battlefield, but there he gives a
good account of himself ; and if anybody who came
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THE AMAZON BRIGADE. 117
to his tents to try and recover his slave-girls by
force, he might easily be sent about his business
minus his nose and ears. Besides, who could say
that these warriors of Feriz are women? Do they
not dispense thrusts and slashes instead of kisses?
Do you ever hear them sing or see them dance and
smile so long as they are under canvas ? Oh, sir, I
assure you that you would do well if you told all
those who buy slave-girls from me to guard the
damsels from the enchanting dark eyes of this man,
for there is a talisman concealed in them. And, in
particular, forget not to tell your master to conceal
his damsel, for you know not what might happen if a
magician caused a female lbbis * to enter into her.
If an enamoured woman is terrible, what would an
enamoured she-devil be ? You bought her, take care
that she does not sell you ! The day before yesterday
you threw his favourite women into the water, the
day after to-morrow you might but Allah guard
my tongue, I will not say what I would. Watch
carefully, that's all I'll say. Yet to keep a watch
upon women is the most difficult of sciences If you
want to get into a beleagured fortress, hide an
enamoured woman in it, and she'll very soon show
you the way in. Take heed to what I say, sir, for if
you forget my words but for half an hour, I would
not give my little finger-nail for your head."
Whereupon Yffim Beg arose without saying a
word and withdrew, deeply pondering the words of
the slave-dealer. But Haji Baba that same night
drew up his anchors, and at dawn he had vanished
from the Danube, none knew whither.
• Evil spirit.
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CHAPTER X.
THE MARGARET ISLAND.
On the Margaret island, in the bosom of the blue
Danube, was the paradise of Hassan Pasha, and to
behold its treasures was death. At every interval of
twenty yards stands a eunuch behind the groves of
the island with a long musket, and if any man fares
upon the water within bullet-reach, he certainly will
never tell anyone what he saw.
Paradise exhales every intoxicating joy, every
transient delight; it is full of flowers, and no sooner
does one flower bloom than another instantly fades
away ; and this also is the fate of those flowers which
are called damsels, for some of these likewise fade
in a day, whilst others are culled to adorn the table
of the favourite. This, I say, is the fate of all the
flowers, and frequently in those huge porcelain vases
which stand before Azrael's bed, among its wreaths of
roses and pomegranate flowers, one may see the head
of an odalisk with drooping eyes who yesterday was
as bright and merry as her comrades, the rose and
pomegranate blossoms.
Oh, that woman is a veritable dream 1 Since he
possessed her Hassan Pasha is no longer a man, but
a piece of wax which receives the impression of her
ideas. He hears nothing but her voice, and sees
nothing but her. Already they are beginning to say
that Hassan Pasha no longer recognizes a man ten
feet off, and is no longer able to distinguish between
the sound of the drum and the sound of the trumpet
And it is true, but whoever said so aloud would be
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THE MARGARET ISLAND. 119
jeopardizing his head, for Hassan would conceal his
failings for fear of being deprived of the command of
the army if they became generally known.
All the better does Yffim Beg see and hear, Yffim
Beg who is constantly about Azrael ; if he were not
such an old and faithful favourite of Hassan Pasha
he might almost regret that he has such good eyes
and ears. But Azrael's penetrating mind knows
well enough that Yffim Beg's head stands much more
firmly on his shoulders than stand the heads of
those whom Hassan Pasha sacrifices to her whims, so
she flatters him, and it is all the worse for him that
she does flatter.
Hassan Pasha, scarce waiting for the day to end
and dismissing all serious business, sat him down in
his curtained pinnace, known only to the dwellers on
the fairy island, and had himself rowed across to his
hidden paradise, where, amidst two hundred attendant
damsels, Azrael, the loveliest of the living, awaits
him in the hall of the fairy kiosk, round whose
golden trellis work twine the blooms of a foreign
sky.
Yffim Beg alone accompanies the Pasha thither.
The Governor, after embracing the odalisk, strolled
thoughtfully through the labyrinth of fragrant trees
where the paths were covered by coloured pebbles
and a whole army of domesticated birds made their
nests in the trees. Yffim Beg follows them at a
little distance, and not a movement escapes his keen
eyes, not so much as a sigh eludes his sharp ears ;
he keeps a strict watch on all that Azrael does and
says.
In the midst of their walk — they hadn't gone a
hundred paces — a faicon rose before them from
among the trees and perched on a poplar close by.
" Look, sir, what a beautiful falcon ! " cried Yffim
Beg.
Azrael laughed aloud and looked back.
" Oh, my good Beg, how canst thou take a wood-
pigeon for a falcon ? why it was a wood-pigeon."
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120 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
" I took good note of it, Azrael, and there it is
sitting on that poplar."
" Why, that's better still — now he calls a nut-tree a
poplar. "Eh, eh! worthy Beg, thou must needs have
been drinking a little to see so badly."
" Well, that was what I fancied/' said the Beg, much
perplexed, and for the life of him not perceiving the
point of the jest Why should the odalisk make a
fool of him so ?
" But look then, my love," said Azrael, appealing
to the Pasha ; " thou didst see that bini fly away
from the tree yonder, was it not a wood-pigeon flying
from a nut-tree ? "
Hassan saw neither the tree nor the bird, but he
pretended he did, and agreed with the odalisk.
" Of course it was a wood-pigeon and a nut-tree."
Yffim Beg did not understand it at all.
They went on further, and presently Yffim Beg
again spoke. *•
"Shall we not turn, my master, towards that
beautiful arcade of rose-trees ?"
Azrael clapped her hands together in amazement
" What ! an arcade of roses ! Where is it ? "
a Turn in that direction and thou wilt see it"
"These things! Why if he isn't taking som6
sumach trees full of berries for an arcade of rose*
trees!"
Hassan Pasha laughed. As for Yffim Beg he was
lost in amazement — why did this damsel choose to
jest with him in this fashion ?
At that moment a cannon shot resounded from the
Pesth shore.
" Ahl " said the Pasha, stopping, "a cannon shot!"
" Yes, my master," said Yffim, " from the direction
of Pesth."
"From Pesth indeed," said Azrael, "it was from
Buda ; it was the signal for closing the gate."
41 1 heard it plainly."
" Excuse me, my good Beg, but thy hearing is as
bad as thy sight. I am beginning to be anxious
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THE MARGARET ISLAND. 121
about thee. How could it be from the direction, of
Pesth when the whole camp has crossed over to
Buda?"
"Maybe a fresh host has arrived, which now
awaits us."
" Come," cried Azrael, seizing Hassan's hand, " we
will find out at once who is right ;" and she hastened
with them to the shore of the island.
On the further bank the camp of Feriz Beg was
visible; they were just pitching their tents on the
side of the hills. A company of cavalry was just
going down to the waters-edge, at whose head
ambled a slim young man whose features were im-
mediately recognised, even at that distance, botk by
the favourite Beg and the favourite damsel
Only Hassan saw nothing ; in the distance every-
thing was to him but a blur of black and yellow.
"Well, what did I say?" exclaimed Yffim Beg
triumphantly ; " that is the camp of Feriz Beg, and
there is Feriz himself trotting in front of them."
The words were scarce out of his mouth when the
terrible thought occurred to him that Azrael had no
business to be looking upon this strange man.
The odalisk, laughing loudly, flung herself on
Hassan's neck.
"Ha, ha, ha! the worthy Beg takes the water-
carrying girls for an army 1 "
Then Yffim Beg began to tremble, for he perceived
now whither this woman wanted to carry her joke.
"My master," said he, "forbid thy slave-girl to
make a fool of me. The camp of Feriz Beg is
straight in front of us, and thou wilt do well to pre-
vent thy maid-servant from looking at these men
with her face unveiled."
"Allah! thou dost terrify me, good Beg!" said
Azrael, feigning horror so admirably that Hassan
himself felt the contagion of it
" Say ! where dost thou see this camp ?"
" There, on the water-side ; dost thou not see the
tents on the hillocks ? "
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iaa THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
u Surely it is the linen which these girls are
bleaching."
" And that blare of trumpets ? "
"I only hear the merry songs that the girls are
singing."
In his fury Yffim Beg plucked at his beard.
" My master, this devilish damsel is only mocking
us."
" Thou art suffering from deliriums," said Azrael,
with a terrible face, " or thou art under a spell which
makes thee see before thee things which exist not
Contradict me not, I beg; this hath happened to thee
once before. Dost thou not remember when thou
fleddest from Transylvania how, then also, thou didst
maintain that the enemy was everywhere close upon
thy heels 1 Thou also then wert under the spell of a
hideous enchantment, for thy eunuch horseman who
remained behind at Nagyenyed, and is now a sentinel
on this island, hath told me that there was no sign of
any enemy for more than twenty leagues around, and
he remained waiting for thee for ten days and fancied
thou wert mad. Most assuredly some evil sorcery
made thee fly before an imaginary enemy without thy
turban or tunic."
Yffim Beg grew pale. He felt that he must sur-
render unconditionally to this infernal woman.
" Was it so, Yffim ? " cried Hassan angrily.
" Pardon him, my lord," said Azrael soothingly ;
" he was under a spell then, as he is now. Thou art
bewitched, my good Yffim."
"Really, I believe 1 am," he stammered in-
voluntarily.
" But I will turn away the enchantment," said the
damsel ; and tripping down to the water's-edge she
moistened her hand and sprinkled the face of the
Beg, murmuring to herself at the same time some
magic spell. " Now look and see 1 "
The Beg did all that he was bidden to do.
" Who, then, are these walking on the bank of the
Danube?"
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THE MARGARET ISLAND. 123
u Young girls," stammered the Beg.
M And those things spread out yonder."
"Wet linen;'
" Dost thou not hear the songs of the girls ? *
44 Certainly I do."
" Look now, my master, what wonders there are
beneath the sun!" said Azrael, turning towards
Hassan Pasha; "is it not marvellous that Yffim
should see armies when there is nothing but pretty
peasant girls ? "
" Miracles proceed from Allah, but methinks Yffim
Beg must have very bad sight to mistake maidens
for men of war."
Yffim Beg durst not say to Hassan Pasha that he
also had bad sight ; he might just as well have pro-
nounced his own death sentence at once. Hassan
wanted to pretend to see all that his favourite damsel
pointed out, and she proceeded to befool the pair of
them most audaciously in the intimate persuasion
that Hassan would not betray the fact that he could
not see, while Yffim Beg was afraid to contradict lest
he should be saddled with that plaguy Transylvanian
business.
Meanwhile, on the opposite bank, Feriz Beg in a
sonorous voice was distributing his orders and
making his tired battalions rest, galloping the while
an Arab steed along the banks of the Danube. The
odalisk followed every movement of the young hero
with burning eyes.
" I love to hear the songs of these damsels ; dost
not thou also, my master ? " she inquired of Hassan.
" Oh, I do," he answered hastily.
" Wilt thou not sit down beside me here on the soft
grass of the river bank?"
The Pasha sat down beside the odalisk, who, lying
half in his bosom, with her arm round his neck,
followed continually the movements of Feriz with
sparkling eyes.
" Look, my master 1 " said she, pointing him out to
Hassan ; "look at that slim, gentle damsel, prominent
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i2 4 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
among all the others, walking on the river's bank.
Her eyes sparkle towards us like fire, her figure is
lovelier than a slender flower. Ah! now she turns
towards us ! What a splendid, beauteous shape I
Never have I seen anything so lovely. Why may I
not embrace her — like a sister — why may I not say
to her, as I say to thee, 4 1 love thee, I live and die
for thee ?'"
And with these words the odalisk pressed Hassan
to her bosom, covering his face with kisses at every
word ; and he, beside himself with rapture, saw
everything which the girl told him of, never suspecting
that those kisses, those embraces, were not for him
but for a youth to whom his favourite damsel openly
confessed her love beneath his very eyes !
And Yffim Beg, amazed, confounded, stood behind
them, and shaking his head, bethought him of the
words of Haji Baba, "Cast forth that devil, and
beware lest she give you away 1 n
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CHAPTER XI.
A STAR IN HELL.
LET the gentle shadows of night descend which
guard them that sleep from the eyes of evil spectres 1
Let the weary errant bee rest in the fragrant chalice
of the closed flower. Everything sleeps, all is quiet,
only the stars and burning hearts are still awake.
What a gentle, mystical song resounds from among
the willows, as of a nightingale endowed with a human
voice in order to sing to the listening night in coherent
rhymes the song of his love and his melancholy
rapture. It is the poet Hariri whom, sword in hand,
they call Feriz Beg, " The Lion of Combat," but who,
when evening descends, and the noise and tumult of
the camp are still, discards his coat of mail, puts on a
light grey burnush^ and, lute in hand, strolls through
the listening groves and by the side of the murmuring
streams and calls forth languishing songs from the
depths of his heart and the strings of his lute,
uninterrupted by the awakening appeals of the
trumpet
Many a pale maid opens her window to the night
at the souqd of these magic songs — and becomes all
the paler from listening to them.
The eunuchs steal softly along the banks of the
Margaret Island with their long muskets, and stop
still and watch for any suspicious skiff drawing
near to the island ; and the most wakeful of them is
old Majmun, who, even when he is asleep, has one
eye open, and in happier times was the guardian of
the harem. He sits down on a hillock, and even a
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126 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
carrier-pigeon with a letter under its wings could not
have eluded his vigilance. He has only just arrived
on the island, having previously accompanied Yffim
Beg into Transylvania, and therefore has only seen
Azrael once.
His eyes roam constantly around, and his sharp
ears detect even the flight of a moth or a beetle, yet
suddenly he feels — some one tapping him on the
shoulder.
He turns terrified, and behold Azrael standing
behind him.
"Accursed be that singing over yonder. I was
listening to it, so did not hear thee approach. What
dost thou want ? Why dost thou come hither in the
darkness of night ? How didst thou escape from the
harem?"
"I prythee be quiet!" said the odalisk. "This
evening I went a-boating with my master, and a gold
ring dropped from my finger into the water ; it was a
present irom him, and if to-morrow he asks : ' Where
is that ornament?' and I cannot show it him, he will
slay me. Oh, let me seek for it here in the water."
" Foolish damsel, the water here is deep ; it will go
over thy head, and thou wilt perish."
" I care not ; I must look for it. I must find the
ring, or lose my life for it."
And the odalisk said the words in such an agony
of despair that the eunuch was quite touched by it
" Thou shouldst entrust the matter to another."
" If only I could find someone who can dive under
the water, I would give him three costly bracelets for
it ; I would give away all my treasures."
u I can dive," said Majmun, seized by avarice.
" Oh, descend then into the water for me," implored
the damsel, falling on her knees before him and
covering the horny hand of the slave with her kisses.
41 But art thou not afraid of being suffocated ? For
then in the eyes of the governor I should be twice
guilty."
" Fear not on my account In my youth I was a
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A STAR IN HELL. 127
'pearl-fisher in the Indian Ocean, and I can remain
under water and look about me like a fish, even at
night, while thou dost count one hundred. Only
show me the place where the ring fell from thy
finger."
Azrael drew a pearl necklace from her arm and
casting it into the water, pointed at the place where
it fell.
* It was on the very spot where I have cast that ; if
thou dost fetch up both of them for me, the second
one shall be thine."
Majmun perceived that this was not exactly a joke,
and laying aside his garment and his weapon, bade
the damsel look after them, and quickly slipped
beneath the water.
In a few seconds the eunuch's terrified face emerged
above the water and he struck out for the shore with
a horrified expression.
" This is an evil spot," said he ; " at the bottom of
the water is a heap of human heads."
" I know it," said the odalisk calmly.
The eunuch was puzzled. He gazed up at her,
and was astounded to observe that in the place of the
sensitive, supplicating figure so lately there, there
now stood a haughty, awe-inspiring woman, who
looked down upon him like a queen.
" Those heads there are the heads of thy comrades,"
said Azrael to the astounded eunuch, "whom last
night and the preceding nights I asked to do me a
service, which they refused to do. Next day I
accused them to the governor and he instantly had
their heads cut off without letting them speak."
" And what service didst thou require ? "
" To swim to the opposite shore and give this bunch
of flowers to that youth yonder."
" Ha ! thou art a traitor."
M No such thing. All I ask of thee is this : dost
thou hear those songs in that grove yonder ? Very
well, swim thither and give him this posy. If thou
dost not, thy head also will be under the water
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128 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
among the heap of the others. But if thou dost
oblige me I will make thee rich for the remainder of
thy life. It is in thine own power to choose whether
thou wilt live happily or die miserably."
" But I have a third choice, and that is to kill thee/ 9
cried the eunuch, gnashing his teeth,
Azrael laughed.
" Thou blockhead ! Whilst thou wert still under
the water it occurred to me to fill thy musket with
earth and gird thy dagger to my side. Utter but a
cry and thou wilt have no need to wait for to-morrow
to lay thy head at thy feet"
At these words the damsel squeezed the eunuch's
arm so emphatically that he bent down before her.
" What dost thou command ? "
" I have already told thee."
" I am playing with my own head**
" That is not as bad as if I were playing with it."
" What dost thou want of me ? "
"I want thee to row me across to the opposite
shore."
" There is only one skiff on the island, and in that
Yffim Beg is wont to fish."
w Oh, why have I never learnt to swim!" cried
Azrael, collapsing in despair.
"What! wouldst thou swim across this broad
stream ? "
" Yes, and I'll swim across it now, this instant."
u Those are idle words. If thou art not a devil
thou wilt drown in this river if thou canst not swim."
" Thou shalt swim with me. I will put one hand
on thy shoulder to keep me up."
"Thou art mad, surely 1 Only just now thou
didst threaten me with death, and now thou wouldst
trust thy life to me 1 I need only hold thee under for
a second or two to be rid of thee for ever. Water is
a terrible element to him who cannot rule over it, the
dwellers beneath the waves are merciless."
M By putting my life into thy hands I show thee
* that I fear thee not Lead me through the water 1 "
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A STAR IN HELL. 129
" Thou art mad, but I still keep my senses. Go
back to the Vizier's kiosk while he hath not (toticed
thy absence. I will not betray thee."
" Then thou wilt not go with me?" said the odalisk
darkly.
"May I never see thee again if I do so," said
Majmun resolutely, sitting down on a hillock.
" Wretched slave ! " cried Azrael in despair, " then
I will go myself"
And with that she cast herself into the water from
the high bank. Majmun, unable to prevent her leap,
plunged in after her and soon emerged with her
again on the surface of the water, holding the woman
by her long hair.
She suddenly embraced the eunuch with both arms,
turned in the water so as to come uppermost and
raising her head from the waves, cried fiercely to the
submerged eunuch :
" Go to the opposite shore, or we'll drown together."
The eunuch, after a short, desperate struggle,
becoming convinced that he could not free himself
from the arms of the damsel who held him fast
like a gigantic serpent, with a tremendous wrench
contrived to bring his head above the water and
cried unwillingly :
"Til lead thee thither."
"Hasten then!" cried Azrael, releasing him from
her arms and grasping the woolly pate of the
swimmer with one hand ; " hasten ! "
The eunuch swam onwards. Nothing was to be
seen but a white and a black head moving closely
together in the darkness and the long tresses of the
damsel floating on the surface of the waves.
"Is the bank far?" she presently asked the slave,
for she was somewhat behind and could not see in
front of her.
"Art thou afraid?"
" I fear that I may not be able to see it"
" We shall be at the other side directly. The stream .
is broad just now, for the Danube is in flood."
I
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130 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
A few minutes later the negro felt firm ground
beneath his feet, and the odalisk perceived the branch
of a willow drooping above her face. Quickly seizing
it, she drew herself out of the water.
Softly and tremulously she ran towards the grove
of trees which concealed what she sought, and on
perceiving the singer, whose enchanting tones had
enticed her across the water, she stood there all
quivering, holding back her breath, and with one
hand pressed against her bosom.
The young singer was sitting on a silver linden-
tree. He had just finished his song, and had placed
the lute by his side, and was gazing sadly before him
with his handsome head resting against his hand as if
he would have summoned back die spirit which had
flown far far away on the wings of his melody.
" Now thou canst speak to him/' said Majmun to
the damsel.
Azrael stood there, leaning against a weeping
willow and gazing, motionless, at the youth.
" Hasten, I say. The night is drawing to an end
and we have to get back again. Wherefore dost thou
hesitate when thou hast come so far for this very
thing?"
The odalisk sighed softly, and leant her head
against the mossy tree trunk.
" Thou saidst thou wouldst rush to him, embrace
his knees, and greet him with thy lips, and now thou
dost stand as if rooted to the spot by spells."
The damsel slowly sank upon her knees and hid
her face in her garment
"The girl is really crazy," murmured the negro;
" if thou hast come hither only to weep, thou couldst
have done that just as well on the other side."
At that moment the voice of a bugle horn rang out
from a distance through the silent night, whereupon
the singer, suddenly transformed into a warrior,
sprang to his feet It was the first reveille from the
camp of Buda to awake the sleepers, and Hariri
disappeared to become Feriz Beg again, who, drawing
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A STAR IN HELL. 131
his sword, quickly hastened away from among the
willow-trees, and in his hurry forgot his lute beneath
a silver birch.
"Thou seest he has departed from thee" cried
the negro malevolently, seizing the damsel's hand.
" Hasten back with me while yet there is time/ 9
The girl arose — holding her breath as she gazed
after the youth — and waited till he had disappeared
among the bushes ; then she drew forth the wreath
of flowers which she had hidden in her bosom, and
took a step forward, listening till the retreating foot-
steps had died away, and then suddenly rushed
towards the abandoned lute, pressed it to her heart,
covered it with kisses, and fell down beside it filled
with agony and rapture.
Then she took the wreath and cast it round the
lute, and the wreath was composed of these flowers :
A rose. What does a rose signify in the language of
love ? — " I love thee, I am happy." Then a pome-
granate-flower, which signifies : " I love none but
thee ! " Then a pink, which signifies t " I wither for
love of thee." Then a balsam, which signifies : •' I
dare not approach thee." And, finally, a forget-me-
not, which signifies : " Let us live or die together."
This wreath the odalisk fastened together with a
lock of her own hair, which signifies : " I surrender
my life into thy hands 1" For a Turkish woman
never allows a lock of her hair to pass into the hand
of 4 stranger, believing, as she does, that whoever
possesses it has the power to ruin or slay her, to
deprive her either of her reason or her life.
Majmun gazed at her in astonishment Was this
all she had come for through so many terrible
dangers ?
" Hasten, damsel, with thine incantations," said he,
the camp is now aroused and the dawn is at hand."
Azrael cast a burning kiss with her hand in the
direction whither Feriz had disappeared ; then
returning to the slave, she said, with her usual
commanding voice :
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13a THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
" Remain here and count up to six hundred without
looking after me, and by that time I shall have come
back."
Majmun counted up to six hundred with a loud
voice.
Meanwhile, Azrael ran along the dam of the river
bank till she came to the sluice, which she raised by
the exertion of her full strength. The liberated water
began to flow through the opening with a mighty
roar.
Then Azrael hastened back to the negro.
" And now for the island," said she.
And once more they traversed the dangerous way,
Azrael lying on her back with a hand on the negro's
head. In her bosom was a poplar leaf, which afforded
her great satisfaction.
On reaching the island Azrael richly recompensed
the negro, and said to him :
41 To-morrow morning, at dawn, thy master, Yffim
Beg, will seek thee and command thee to accompany
him and Hassan Pasha across the bridge to the other
side where stands the camp of Feriz Beg. Thou wilt
find no one there, but look at the place where we
were this night, and if thou shouldst find there a
nosegay or a wreath, bring it to me ! "
Majmun listened with amazement How could
Azrael have found out all about these things ?
Azrael returned to the kiosk, where Hassan Pasha
was still sleepipg the deep sleep of opium. He
awoke in the arms of his favourite, and he could not
understand why her hands were so cold and her
kisses so burning.
The odalisk told him she had been dreaming. She
had dreamt that she swam across the river enticed by
the singing of the Peris.
Hassan smiled.
" Go on sleeping, and continue thy dream," said he.
The sun was high in the heaven when Hassan
Pasha quitted the kiosk. Yffim Beg was awaiting
him.
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A STAR IN HELL. 133
" Wilt thou not ride to Pesth there to mark out
the place for the camp of Feriz Beg, who has just
arrived?"
Azrael shrewdly guessed that Yffim Beg was for
leading the Governor to the Pesth shore to satisfy
him as to the peasant girls whom he was said to have
mistaken for soldiers by some evil enchantment
She also thought how convenient it would be for her
that they should take Majmun with them for the
whole day.
Hassan accordingly accepted Yffim's invitation,
and galloped with him and Majmun over to the
opposite shore, where Yffim was amazed to discover
that not a soul of Feriz Beg*s host was visible.
In the night the suddenly released water had
covered the whole ground of their camp, and they
had been obliged to retire farther away from the
river and seek another encampment beyond Pesth.
Yffim Beg would have liked to have torn out his
beard in his wrath if he had not been restrained by
the general's presence.
But Majmun, under the pretext of clearing the way,
reconnoitred the scene of yesterday's interview, and
there, in the roots of the silver birch, he found that a
wreath had been deposited. He concealed it beneath
his burnusky and carried it home to Azrael.
The wreath was composed of two pieces — a branch
of laurel and a spray of thorn.
The damsel bowed her head before this answer.
She knew that it signified : " Suffer if thou wouldst
prevail 1 "
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CHAPTER XII.
THE BATTLE OF ST. GOTHARD.
It was a beautiful summer evening; there was a
half-moon in the sky, and a hundred other half-
moons scattered over the hillocks below. The Turkish
host had encamped among the hills skirting the
river Raab.
Concerning this particular new moon, we find
recorded in the prophetic column of the " Kaossa
Almanack" for the current year that it was to be :
" To the Germans, help in need ;
To the Turks, fortune indeed ;
To the Magyars, power to succeed.
And whoever^ not ill
Shall of health have his fill,
For 'tis Heaven's own will."
The worthy astrologer forgot, however, to find out
in heaven whether there are not certain quarters
of the moon beneath which man may easily die even
if they are not sick.
The great Grand Vizier Kiuprile, after resting on
the ruins of Zerinvir, turned towards the borders of
Styria and united with the army of the Pasha of
tfiuda, below St Gothard.
&iuprile's host consisted for the most part of
"Gr£Vi for his infantry was employed in digging
The SUCPund Zerinvir, whose commandant, in reply
Pasha quitt&tion to surrender the fortress and not
him. "fend it with six hundred men against
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THE BATTLE OF ST. GOTHARD. 135
thirty thousand, jestingly responded: "As one Hun* ~
garian florin is worth ten Turkish piasters, one
Hungarian warrior necessarily must be worth ten
Turkish warriors." And what is more, the worthy
man made good this rate of exchange, for when
the victors came to count up the cost, they found
that for six hundred Hungarians they had had to
pay six thousand Osmanlis into the hands of his
Majesty King Death.
Kiuprile had then pursued the armies of the
Emperor, but they refused to stand and fight any-
where ; and while their enemies were marching
higher and higher up the banks of the Raab, they
seemed to be withdrawing farther and farther away
on the opposite shore.
The army of the Pasha of Buda should have gone
round at the rear of the imperial forces, in order to
unite with the Pasha of Ersekiijvar, the former having
previously cut off every possibility of a retreat ; but
Hassan, as an independent general, did not follow
the directions sent him, simply because they came
from Kiuprile, and he also made straight for the Raab
by forced marches, in order to wrest the opportunity
of victory from his rival
Thus die two armies came together, on July 30th,
below the romantic hills of St Gothard, each army
pitching its tents on the right bank of the river, and
occupying the summits of the hills, which commanded
a view of the whole region.
And certainly the worthy gentlemen showed no
bad taste when they took a fancy to that part of the
kingdom. In every direction lay the yellow acres,
from which the terrified peasants had not yet reaped
the standing corn ; to the right were the gay vine-
yard-clad hills; to the left the dark woods and
stretch upon stretch of undulating meadow-land,
bisected by the winding ribbon of the Raab. On a
hill close by stood the gigantic pillared portico of the
Monastery of St Gothard, with fair pleasure-groves
at its base. Farther away were the towers of four or
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136 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
five villages. The setting sun, as if desirous of
making the district still more beautiful, enwrapped it
in a veil of golden mist.
" Thou dog 1 " cried Hassan Pasha to the peasant
who alone received the terrible guests in the aban-
doned cloisters, " this region is far too beautiful for
the like of you monks to dwell ia But you will not
be in it long, my good sirs, for I mean to take it for
myself. The peasant after all is lord here. He eats
his own bread and he drinks his own wine, and he
has a couple of good garments to draw over his
head But stop, things shall be very different, for I
shall have a word to say about it M
The honest peasant took off his cap. " God grant,"
said he, " that more and more of you may dwell in
my domains, and that I may build your houses for
you." The man was a grave-digger.
Hassan Pasha and his suite occupied the monas-
tery, whose vestibule was filled with priests and
magistrates from every quarter of the kingdom,
whose duty it was to collect and bring in provisions
and taxes due to the Turkish Government And
what they brought in was never sufficient, and there-
fore the poor creatures had to send deputies as
hostages from time to time, who followed their lords
on foot wherever they went, and relieved each other
from this servitude in rotation ; some of them had
been here for half a year.
The Turkish army was more than 100,000 strong,
and the right bank of the river was planted for a
long distance with their tents. The monastery
constituted the centre of the camp; there was the
encampment of Hassan's favourite mamelukes and
the selected corps of cloven-nosed, gigantic negroes,
who used to plunge into the combat half-naked, and
neither take nor give quarter. Alongside of them
was the cavalry of Kucsuk Pasha, a corps accustomed
to the strictest discipline. Close beside the tents of
this division, within a quadrilateral, guarded by a
ditch, you could see the camp of the Amazon Brigade,
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THE BATTLE OF ST. GOTHARD. 137
whose first thought when they pitch their tents is to
entrench themselves.
Close to the camp of Kucsuk lies the Moldavian
army, from whose elaborate precautions you can
gather that they have a far greater fear of their allies
all around them than of the foe against whom they
are marching. From beyond the monastery, right up
to the vineyards of Nagyfalva, the ground is occupied
by the noisy Janissaries of Ismail Pasha, who, if
their military reputation lies not, are more used
to distributing orders to their commanders than
receiving orders from them. Beyond the vine-clad
hills lies the cavalry of the Grand Vizier, Achmed
Kiuprile, and all round about, wherever a column of
smoke is to be seen or the sky is blood-red, there is
good reason for suspecting that there the marauding
Tartar bands are out, whom it was not the habit to
attach to the main army. Far in the rear, along the
mountain paths, on the slopes of the narrow forest
passes, could be seen the endlessly long procession of
wagons laden with plunder, intermingled with long
round iron cannons and ancient stone mortars, each
one drawn along by ten or twelve buffaloes, striving
laboriously and painfully to urge their way forward,
and if one of them stops for a moment, or falls down,
all the others behind it must stop also.
It is now evening, and from one division of the
army to another the messengers from headquarters
are hurrying. Kiuprile's messenger comes to inform
Hassan that the army of the enemy has taken up its
position on the opposite bank, between two forests,
the French mercenaries and the German auxiliary
troops have joined it, so that it would be well to
attack it in the night, before it has had time
properly to marshal its ranks.
"Thy master is mad," replied Hassan; "how can I
fly across the water? Before me is the river Raab.
I should have to fling a bridge across it first — nay
two, three bridges —which it would take me days to
do, and I cannot even begin to do it till the old
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138 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
ammunition waggons have arrived. Go back, there-
fore, and tell thy master that if he wants to fight
I'll sound the alarm."
The messenger opened his eyes wide, being un-
aware of the fact that Hassan was short-sighted, and
consequently only knew the river Raab from the
map, not knowing that at the spot where he stood
the river was not more than two yards wide, and
could be bridged over in a couple of hours without
the assistance of old ammunition wagons — so back
the messenger went to Kiuprile.
He had scarce shown a clean pair of heels, when
the messenger of Kucsuk Pasha arrived to signify in
his master's name that the battle could not be
postponed, because no hay had arrived for the horses.
Hassan turned furiously on the captive magistrates.
" Why have you not sent hay ? "
The wisest of them, desirous to answer the ques-
tion, politely rejoined : " It has been a dry summer,
sir, the Lord has kept back the clouds of Heaven."
"Oh, that's it, eh!" said Hassan. "Tell Kucsuk
Pasha that he must give his horses the clouds to eat ;
the hay of the Magyars is there, it seems."
This messenger had no sooner departed than a
whole embassy arrived from the Janissaries, and the
whole lot of them energetically demanded that they
should be led into battle at once.
"What?" inquired Hassan mockingly, "has your
hay fallen short too, then ? " The Janissaries are
infantry, by the way.
" It is glory we are running short of," said the
leader of the deputation stolidly; "it bores us to
stand staring idly into the eyes of the enemy."
" Then don't stare idly at them any longer ; away
with those mutinous dogs and impale them, and put
them on the highest hillock that the whole army
may see them."
The bodyguard, after a fierce struggle, overpowered
the Janissaries, and pending their impalement, locked
them up in the cellar of the cloisters.
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THE BATTLE OF ST. GOTHARD. 139
By this time Hassan Pasha was in the most
horrible temper; and just at that unlucky moment
who should arrive but Ball6, the envoy of the Prince
of Transylvania
Hassan, who could not see very well at the best of
times, and was now blinded with rage besides, roared
at him :
"Whence hast thou come? Who hath sent thee
hither ? What is thy errand ? "
a I come from Kiuprile, sir," replied Ball6 blandly.
" What a good-for-nothing blackguard this Kiuprile
must be to send to me such a rogue as thou art,
except in chains and fetters."
M Well, of course he knows that I am the envoy of
Transylvania, and represent the Prince."
" Represent the Prince, eh ? Art thou the Prince's
cobbler that thou standest in his shoes ? Hast thou
brought soldiers with thee ? "
" Gracious sir "
" Thou hast not, then ? Not another word ! Hast
thou brought money ? "
M Gracious sir ! "
"Not even money! Wherefore, then, hast thou
come at all ? Canst thou pay the allotted tribute ? "
" Gracious sir 1 "
"Don't gracious sir me, but answer — yes or
no!"
"Well, but *
"Then why not?"
" The land is poor, sir. The heavy hand of God is
upon it."
" Thou must settle that with God, then, and pray
that it may not feel my heavy hand also. Wherefore,
then, hast thou come ? "
Ball6 made up his mind to swallow the bitter
morsel.
" I have come to implore you to remit the annual
tribute."
At first Hassan did not know what to say.
" Hast thou become wooden, then," he said at last,
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i 4 o THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
" thou and thy whole nation ? What right have ye
to ask for a remission of the tribute ? "
"Gracious sir, the tribute is five times more than
what Gabriel Bethlen was wont to pay."
"Gabriel Bethlen was a fine fellow who paid in
iron what he did not pay in silver ; if he paid
fourteen thousand thalers for the privilege of fighting
alongside of us, ye may very well pay down eighty
thousand for sitting comfortably at your own fire-
sides. What, only eighty thousand for Transylvania,
a state that is always digging up gold and silver, when
a single sandjak* pays the Pasha of Thessalonica
twice as much ? "
At these words the national pride awoke in the
breast of Ball6.
"Sir, Thessalonica is a subject province, and its
Pasha has unlimited power over his sandjaks, but
Transylvania is a free state."
"And who told thee that it shall not become a
sandjak like the rest?" said Hassan grimly.
" Before the moon has waxed and waned again twice,
take my word for it that a Turkish Pasha shall sit on
the throne of Transylvania! Dost thou hear me?
By the prophet I swear it"
"The Grand Seignior has also sworn that the
ancient rights of Transylvania should never be
infringed He swore it on the Koran and by the
Prophet."
" It is beneath the dignity of the Grand Seignior,
our present Sultan," cried Hassan, " to remember the
oath sworn by the great Suleiman ; not what he says,
but what his viziers wish, will happen. And vainly
do ye entrust your heads to his hand, while the
sword of execution remains in our hands! I'll
humble you, ye stony-headed, most obstinate of all
nations ! Ye shall be no different from the Bosnian
rajas who themselves pull the plough ! "
Ball6 raised his head with a better look before the
wrathful vizier.
• Province.
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THE BATTLE OF ST. GOTHARD. 141
"Then, sir, you must find another population for
Transylvania, for you will not find there now the
men you seek. You may see no end of murdered
Magyars thfere, but a degraded Magyar you will
never find."
At these words Hassan drew his sword, and with
his own hand would have decapitated the presump-
tuous ambassador, but the mamelukes dragged him
away, assuring the Pasha that they would impale
him along with the Janissaries.
"Place the stake in front of my window that I
may speak to the insolent wolf while he is well
spitted."
The men-at-arms did indeed thrust Ball6 into the
cellar alon^ with the Janissaries, and began to plant
a long, sharp-pointed stake in front of the Pasha's
window, when, all at once, a frightful din arose behind
their backs, for the Janissaries, hearing that their
comrades had been condemned to death without
mercy, had revolted in a body. In a moment they
had cut down those of their officers who remon-
strated, and while one body rushed towards the
monastery, beating their alarm-drum and blowing
their horns, the others attacked the negro giants
guarding the impalement stakes already planted on
the top of the hill, and in a few moments the
executioners were themselves writhing on the stakes.
Meanwhile the mamelukes of Hassan, who were
preparing to resist the insurgents, put to flight by
the furious Janissaries, made for the courtyard of the
cloister and its garden, which was surrounded by
a stone wall, and after barricading the entrances,
succeeded with great difficulty in shutting the iron
gates in the faces of their assailants, and prepared
vigorously to defend them.
The insurgents surrounded the monastery, and
bombarding its windows with bullets and darts,
began to besiege it at long-firing distance.
Hassan, distracted by rage and fear, fled into the
tower of the monastery, leaving his guards to defend
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the gates till the other divisions of the army should
come to quell the insurgents, but they did not stin
Hassan perceived from his tower that not a man
from Kiuprile's army was coming to his assistance,
though they very well could see his jeopardy and
hear the din of the firing a long way off. On the
other side the Moldavians had pitched their camp on
the hills, but it never entered their minds to draw
nearer ; on the contrary, they were only too delighted
to see Turks devour Turks in this fashion. Ismail
Pasha's army seemed rather to be retreating than
approaching, and from Kucsuk and his son he durst
not hope for assistance, as they were his personal
enemies.
At that moment the insurgents caught sight of the
stake planted before the window, and set up a howl
of fury.
"Ah, hal Hassan had this planted here for
himself. Let's fix up Hassan!"
With a shudder the Vizier reflected on the
enormous difference between the throne of Transyl-
vania and the stake on which he might be planted
instead, and cursed softly as he murmured to himself:
"That rogue of a Christian must have prayed to
his God that I might be brought to shame here;"
and grasping in his terror the solitary bell-rope that
hung there, and winding it round his neck, he stood
by the window, so that if the rebels should burst
through the gates he might leap out and hang
himself, rather than that they should wreak their
horrible threats upon him.
The night had now set in, but the besiegers
kindled pine branches, by whose spluttering light
they streamed round the monastery ; and then came
a sudden and continuous firing of guns and beating
of drums and a frightful braying of buffalo horns.
The banner of danger had already been planted
on the summit of the tower, but from no quarter did
help arise, and from time to time the sound of a bell
rang through the air as a chance bullet struck it
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THE BATTLE OF ST. GOTHARD. 143
Hassan, full of terror, drew back behind the
window curtains. Suddenly a yell still more terrible
than the hitherto pervading tumult filled his ear — the
besiegers had discovered the cellar in which their
comrades had been confined, and, bursting in the
doors, liberated them, and the Transylvanian deputy
along with them, who speedily left this scene of
uproar behind him.
At the sight of their bound and fettered comrades,
the Janissaries' wrath increased ten-fold. The leader
of the released captives, waving an axe over his head
with a fierce howl, and hurling himself at the iron
gate, hammered away like the roaring of guns ; whilst
the rest of them, who hitherto had been firing at the
windows from a distance, now attacked the entrances
with unrestrainable fury, raining showers of blows
upon the gates.
But the gates were of good strong iron plates,
well barricaded below with quadraginal paving-
stones. The besiegers' arms grew weary, and the
mamelukes on the roof flung stones and heavy
beams down upon them, doing fearful execution
among their serried ranks; whilst every mameluke
who fell from his perch, pierced by a bullet, was
instantly torn to pieces by the crowd, which flung
back his head at the defenders.
•• Draw back ! " cried the officer in command, who
stood foremost amidst the storm of rafters and
bullets. w Run for the guns 1 At the bottom of that
hill I saw a mortar planted in the ground ; draw it
forth, and we'll fire upon the walls."
In an instant the whole Janissary host had with-
drawn from below the monastery, and the whole
din died away. Yet the dumb silence was more
threatening, more terrible, than the uproar had been.
Very soon a dull rumbling was audible, drawing
nearer and nearer every instant ; it was the rolling of
a gun-carriage full of artillery. Hundreds of them
were pushing it together, and were rapidly advancing
with the heavy, shapeless guns. At last they placed
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144 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
one in position opposite the monastery; it was a
heavy iron four-and-twenty pound culverin, whose
voice would be audible at the distance of four leagues.
This they planted less than fifteen yards from the
monastery, and aimed it at the gate.
" There is no help save with God ! " cried Hassan
in despair ; and he took orf his turban lest they
should thereby recognise his dead body.
At that instant a trumpet sounded, and the cavalry
of Kucsuk Pasha appeared in battle array, making
its way through the congested masses of the insur-
gents ; while Feriz Beg, at the head of his Spahis,
skilfully surrounded them, and cut off their retreat
Kucsuk Pasha, with a drawn sword in his hand,
trotted straight up to the gun and stood face to face
with its muzzle.
"Are ye faithful sons of the prophet, or fire-
worshippers, giaurs, and idolators, that ye attack the
faithful after this fashion ? " he asked the insurgents.
At these words the ringleaders of the insurgents
came forward.
" We are Janissaries," he said, " the flowers of the
Prophet's garden, who are wont to pluck the weeds
we find there."
" I know you, but you know me ; ye are good
soldiers, but I am a good soldier too. Hath Allah
put swords into the hands of good soldiers that they
may fall upon one another? Ye would weep for me
if I fell because of you, and I would weep for you if
ye fell because of me — but where would be the glory
of it ? What I Here with the foe in front of you, ye
would wage war among yourselves, to your own
shame, and to the joy of the stranger ? Is not that
sword accursed which is not drawn against the foe ? "
" Yet accursed also is the sword which returns to
its sheath unblooded."
"What do ye want?"
" We want to fight"
"And can you only find enemies among your-
selves?"
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THE BATTLE OF ST. GOTHARD. 145
"Our first enemy is cowardice, and cowardice
sits in the seat of that general who alone is afraid
when the whole camp wants to fight We would
first slay fear, and then we would slay the foe/ 1
" Why not slay the foe first ? "
" We will go alone against the whole camp of the
enemy if the rest refuse."
41 Good ; I will go with you."
"Thou?"
" I and my son with all our squadrons."
At these words the mutineers passed, in an instant,
from the deepest wrath to the sublimest joy. " To
battle ! " they cried. " Kucsuk also is coming, and
Feriz will help ! " These cries spread from mouth to
mouth. And immediately the drums began to beat
another reveille, the horns gave forth a very different
sound, they turned the cannons round and dragged
them to the river's bank, and began to build a bridge
over the Raab with the beams and rafters that had
been hurled down upon them.
The hostile camp lay about four hours' march
away, on the opposite bank, between two forests, and
by an inexplicable oversight, had left that portion of
the river's bank absolutely unguarded.
The Janissaries swam to and fro in the water
strengthening the posts and stays of the improvised
bridge by tying them stoutly together, and by the
time the night had begun to grow grey, the first
bridge ever thrown over the Raab was ready and the
infantry began to cross it
It was only then that the German-Hungarian
camp perceived the design of the enemy, and speedily
sent three regiments of musketeers against the Turks,
who fought valiantly with the Janissaries, and drove
them right back upon the bridge, where a bloody
tussle ensued; as fresh divisions hastened up to
sustain the hardly-pressed Mussulmans.
Meanwhile a second bridge had been got ready,
over which Kucsuk's cavalry quickly galloped and
fell upon the rear of the musketeers.
K
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These warriors, taken by surprise and perceiving
the preponderance of the enemy, and obtaining no
assistance from their own headquarters, quickly flung
down their firearms and made helter-skelter for their
own trenches.
The next moment the two combating divisions
were a confused struggling mass. Kucsuk's swift
Spahis cut off the retreat of the Christian infantry ;
only for a few moments was there a definite struggle,
the tussle being most obstinate round the standards,
till at last they also began to totter and fall one after
the other, and three thousand Christian souls mounted
on high together, pursued by a roar of triumph from
the Mussulmans, who, seizing the advanced trenches,
planted thereon their half-moon streamers, and
plundered the tents which remained defenceless
before them.
At that moment the Christian host was . near to
destruction, and if Kiuprile had crossed the river and
Hassan Pasha had shared the fight with Kucsuk, he
would have become famous.
But the two chief commanders remained obstinately
behind on the further shore. Kiuprile, who the evening
before had himself wanted to begin the fight when he
had received a negative answer, had now not even
saddled his nag, and looked on with sinister sangfroid
while the extreme wing of the army was engaged
Hassan, on the other hand, would have liked nothing
better if the Janissaries, and Kucsuk their auxiliary,had
lost the battle thus begun without orders, and so far
from hastening to their assistance remained sitting
up in his tower. He could see nothing of the battle,
but he heard a cry, and fancying that it was the
death-yell of the Janissaries, took his beads from his
girdle and began zealously to pray that the Prophet
would keep open for them the gates of Paradise.
"Master, master!" exclaimed Yffim Beg, "gird
on thy sword and to horse ! "
The Pasha heard nothing. At last Yffim Beg, in
despair, seized the bell-rope, and pulled the old bell
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THE BATTLE OF ST. GOTHARD. 147
right above Hassan's head, whereupon the latter
rushed in terror to the window.
" What is it ? What dost thou want ? "
"Hasten, sir!" roared Yffim Beg. "Kucsuk Pasha
has beaten the enemy, taken their trenches, and is
plundering their tents. Do not allow him to have all
the glory of scattering the Christians ! "
Hassan leapt from his seat. If he had heard that
Kucsuk's men were being cut to pieces he would
have gone on praying, but Kucsuk triumphed — had
all the triumph to himself. The thought was a keen
spur to his mind. Up everyone who could stir hand
or foot ! Forward Spahis and Arabs ! To battle
every true believer ! Let the dervishes go up in the
tower and sing dirges for the fallen I Let the ground
shake beneath the rolling of the guns! Let the horns
ring out for now is the day of glory !
In an instant the camp was alert, and crowds of
warriors rushed towards the bridge. Every man
pressed hard on the heels of his fellow ; those who
were crowded into the water did their best to reach
the opposite shore by swimming ; whole companies
swam through on horseback, and the heavy iron guns
moved forward as rapidly as if they had wings. It
was only now that the vast numbers of the Ottoman
host became manifest, it seemed suddenly to spring
out of the ground in every direction ; the tiny little
cramped Christian camp over against them looked
like an island in an inundation.
In the very centre of the host could be seen Hassan
Pasha with a brilliant suite, twenty horse-tail banners
fluttered around him, the pick of his veterans at his
side. On the left was the army of Ismail Pasha ; on
the right were the hosts of the Moldavians. Their
immediate objective was the trenches already
occupied by Kucsuk Pasha.
At that moment Yffim Beg was seen galloping
along the front of the host with the Vizier's
commands for Kucsuk Pasha.
"Ye remain where now you are, and move no
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148 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
farther till a fresh command arrives. Feriz Beg and
his battalion move forward along the outermost
wing."
Hassan could not endure that two such heroes
should help each other in the battle, and that the son
should deliver the father. Kucsuk beat the tattoo.
Feriz Beg moved along the left wing, where he
formed the reserve.
Then the reveille sounded ; a hideous yell filled
the air ; the Mussulman host, with bloodthirsty rage,
rushed upon the front of the Christian army. No
power on earth can save them ! But what is this ?
Suddenly the impetus of the assailants is stayed.
Along the front of the camp of the Christian infantry
star-shaped trenches have been dug during the night
and planted full of sharp stakes. The foremost row
of the assailants pause terror-stricken in front of these
trenches, and for an instant the onset is arrested.
But only for an instant. The powerful impact of the
rearward masses flings them into the deadly ditch,
one after another they fall upon the pointed stakes, a
mortal yell drowns the cry of battle, in a few
moments the star-shaped trenches are filled with
corpses and the rushing throng tramples over the
dead bodies of their comrades to get to the other side
of the ditch. And now the roar of the cannons begia
Up to that moment the guns of the Christians have
remained inactive, concealed behind the gabions.
Now their gaping throats face the attacking host At
a single signal the roar of eighty iron throats is heard,
bullets and chain-shot make their whirring way
through the serried ranks, the crackling mortars
discharge sackloads of acorn-shaped balls, while the
fire-spitting grenades terrify the rearmost ranks.
The Mussulmans host recoils in terror, leaving their
dead and wounded behind them. Horrible spectacle !
Instead of the lately brilliant ranks the ground is
strewn with mangled bloody limbs, writhing like
worms in the dust The next moment the splendid
array again covers the ground ; the corpses are no
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THE BATTLE OF ST. GOTHARD. 149
longer visible, they are hidden by the feet of the
living. The beaten squadrons are sent to the rear ;
fresh battalions fill their places ; the assault is
renewed. The fire of the guns no longer keeps them
back. They cast down their eyes, shout " Allah 1 "
and rush forward. An earth-rending report resounds,
a fiery mine has exploded beneath the feet of the
assailants ; fragments of human limbs intermingled
with strips of tempest-tossed banners fly up into the
air amidst whirling clouds of smoke. The second
assault is also flung back, and in the meantime the
Christian army has succeeded in drawing a line of
wagons across their front And now a third, now a
fourth, assault is delivered, each more furious than
the last The Christians begin to despair ; every
regiment of the Turkish host is now engaged with
them, only Kucsuk has received no order to advance.
Hassan would win the battle without him.
There he stands, together with his staff, directing
the most perverse of battles, hurling his swarms
against unassailable rocks, assaulting entrenched
places with cavalry ; at one time distributing orders
to regiments which had ceased to exist, at another
sending to consult with commanders who had fallen
before his very eyes. Those around him listened to
his words with astonishment, and not one of them
durst say : " Dismount from your horse, you cannot
see ten yards in front of you ! " The din of the
renewed assaults sounded in his ears like a cry of
triumph. " Look how they waver ! " he cried ; " look
how the Christian ranks waver, and how their banners
are falling in the dust! Shoot them, shoot them
down 1 " and none durst say to him : u These are thy
hosts whose death-cries thou dost hear, and it is the
fire from the Christian guns which mow down whole
ranks of thy army ! "
The Ottoman host had begun its tenth assault,
when Hassan sent a courier to Kiuprile on the opposite
shore with this message : " Thou canst return to
Paphlagonia ! We have won the battle without thee.
Tell them at home what thou hast seen ! "
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ISO THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
Kiuprile, seriously alarmed lest he should have no
part in the glory of the contest, immediately mounted
the whole of his cavalry, flung a bridge over the river,
and began to cross it.
This happened at the very moment when Ismail
Pasha was leading the Osmanlis to the tenth
assault.
The leader of the Christian host, Montecuculi, no
sooner perceived Kiuprile's movement, than he called
together his generals and gave them to understand
that if they awaited Kiuprile where they stood they
would be irretrievably lost
They were just then loading their guns with their
last charge.
Many faces grew pale at this announcement, and a
deep silence followed Montecuculi's words. Yet his
words were the words of valour. Three heroes had
been in his army — one of them, the French general,
the Marquis de Brian zon, had already fallen ; the
other two, still present, were the German general,
Toggendorf, and the Hungarian cavalry officer,
Petnehazy.
At the commander-in-chiefs announcement the
faces of both remained unmoved, and Toggendorf,
with the utmost sang-froid came forward : " If we
must choose between two deaths," said he, " why not
rather choose death by advancing than death in
flight?"
" Not so, my lad," cried Petnehazy, enthusiastically
grasping his comrade's hand ; " we choose between
death and glory, and he who seeks glory will find a
triumph also."
u So be it" said Montecuculi, with cool satisfaction,
thrusting his field-glass into his pocket and drawing
forth his thin blade; and, while he sent the two
heroes to the two wings, he placed himself in front of
the army, and commanded that the barrier of wagons
should instantly be demolished.
The last discharge thundered forth, and from
amidst the dispersing clouds of smoke two compact
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THE BATTLE OF ST. GOTHARD. 151
army columns could be seen rapidly charging — they
were Toggendorfs cuirassiers and Petnehdz/s
hussars.
Petnehdzy made straight for the still hesitating
Moldavian army, which, with Prince Ghyka at its
head, had as yet taken no part in the fight Heaven
itself gave him the inspiration. The Prince of
Moldavia had been waiting for a long time for some
one to attack him, that he might at once quit the
field of battle to which he had been constrained to
come, though it revolted his feelings as a Christian to
do so ; consequently, when Petnehizy was within
fifty yards of his battalions, they, as if at a given
signal, turned tail without so much as crossing swords
with the foe, galloped off to the left bank of the Waag,
and so quitted the field.
This flight threw the whole Turkish army ftito
disorder. A more skilful general would indeed have
withdrawn the whole host, but, because of his short-
sightedness, Hassan did not perceive that the
Moldavians had fled, and nobody durst tell him so.
Ismail Pasha immediately hastened to fill up the
gap ; but before he had reached the spot,
Toggendorfs cuirassiers were upon him, and he was
caught between two fires in a moment The
Janissaries received the full brunt of the swords of
the cuirassiers and the hussars, and in the first onset
Ismail Pasha himself fell from his horse. A hussar
rushed upon him, and severing from his body his
big bared head, stuck it on the point of a lance, and
raised it in the air as a very emblem of terror to
the panic-stricken Turks. The Janissaries were no
longer able to rally, in $very direction they broke
through the hostile ranks in a desperate attempt at
flight, and, which was worse still, the flying infantry
barred the way against the cavalry which was
hastening to their assistance.
All this was taking place within two hundred yards
of Hassan Pasha, and he saw nothing of it
" Glory be to Allah," he cried, raising his hands to
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i5« THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
heaven ; " victory is ours ! The Christian is flying
and is casting down his banners in every direction.
The best of his warriors are wallowing in the dust
The rest are flying without weapons and with
pale "
Those about him listened, horror-stricken, to his
words. The Christian host was at that moment
cutting down the Janissaries, the flower of the
Turkish camp !
" Thou ravest, my master ! " cried Yffim Beg,
seizing the bridle of Hassan Pasha's horse. " Fly and
save thyself! The best of thy army has perished, the
Janissaries have fallen, the Moldavian army hath
fled. Ismail Pasha's head has been hoisted on to a
pike!"
"Impossible!" roared Hassan, beside himself,
"come with me ; let us charge, the victory is ours."
But his generals seized him, and tearing his sword
from his hand, seized the bridle of his horse on both
sides and hurried him along with them towards the
bridge, which was now full of fugitives.
The hazard of the die had changed. The pursuers
had become the fugitives. An hour before the
Christian camp ran the risk of annihilation ; it was
now the turn of the Turks.
Kiuprile seeing the catastrophe, destroyed his
bridges and remained on the opposite bank.
Meanwhile on the wings, Kucsuk Pasha and Feriz
Beg, with his brigade of Amazons, were valiantly
holding their own against the cuirassiers of
Toggendorf and the hussars of Petnehdzy, till at last
the melancholy notes of the bugle-horns, gave the
signal for retreat, and the combatants gradually
separated. Only a few scattered bands, and
presently, only a few scattered individuals, still
fought together, and then they also wearily
abandoned the contest and returned silently to
their respective camps. Both sides felt that their
strength was exhausted. The Christian host had
four thousand, the Turkish sixteen thousand slain, and
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THE BATTLE OF ST. GOTHARD. 153
among them its best generals ; they also lost all their
heavy cannons, their banners, and their military
renown ; but none lost so much as Feriz Beg. The
Amazon Brigade had perished. By its deliberate
self-sacrifice it had saved the Turkish army from
utter destruction.
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CHAPTER XIII.
THE PERSECUTED WOMAN.
Perhaps by this time you have clean forgotten our
dear acquaintance, pretty Mariska, the wife of the
Prince of Wallachia ?
Ah, she is happy! Although her husband is far
away, her sorrow is forgotten in the near approach of
a new joy — the joy of motherhood.
There she sits at eventide in the garden of her
castle, weaving together dreams of a happy future,
and her court ladies by her side are making tiny little
garments adorned with bright ribbons.
When the peasant women pass by her on the road
with their children in their arms, she takes the
children from them, presses them to her bosom,
kisses, and talks to them. She is the godmother of
every new-born infant, and what a tender godmother !
Day after day she visits the churches, and before the
altar of the Virgin-Mother prays that she also may
have her portion of that happiness which is the
greatest joy God gives to women.
After the battle of St. Gothard it was Prince
Ghyka's first thought to send a courier to his wife,
bidding her not to be anxious about her husband, for
he was alive and would soon be home.
This was Mariska's first tidings of the lost battle,
and she thanked God for it What did she care that
the battle was lost, that the glory of the Turkish
Sultan was cracked beyond repair, so long as her
husband remained to her ? With him the husbands
of all the other poor Wallachian wives were also safe.
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THE PERSECUTED WOMAN. 155
She at once hastened to tell the more remote of these
poor women that they were not to be alarmed if they
heard that the Turkish army had been cut down, for
their husbands were free and quite near to them.
What joy at the thought of seeing him again!
How she watched for her husband from morn till eve,
and awoke at night at the slightest noise. If a horse
neighed in the street, if she heard a trumpet far
away, she fancied that her husband was coming.
One night she was aroused by the sound of a light
tapping at her bedroom door, and her husband's
voice replied to her question of u Who is there ? "
Her surprise and her joy were so great that in the
first moment of awaking she knew not what to do,
whereupon her husband impatiently repeated :
" Mariska, open the door ! "
The wife hastened to embrace her husband,
admitted him, fell upon his neck, and covered him
with kisses ; but, perceiving suddenly that the kisses
her husband gave her back were quite cold, and that
his arm trembled when he embraced her, she looked
anxiously at his face — it was grave and full of
anxiety.
" My husband 1 " cried the unusually sensitive
woman with a shaky voice. " Why do you embrace
me — us, so coldly," her downcast eyes seemed to say.
The Prince did not fail to notice the expression,
and very sadly, and sighing slightly, he said :
" So much the worse for me ! "
His hands, his whole frame shook so in the arms of
his wife ; and yet the Prince was a muscular as well as
a brave man.
"What has happened? What is the matter?"
asked his wife anxiously.
"Nothing," said the Prince, kissing her forehead.
41 Be quiet. Lie down. I have some business to do
which must be done to-night Then I'll come to
you, and we'll talk about things."
Mariska took him at his word, and lay down again,
But she still trembled— why, she knew not
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156 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
There must be something wrong, something very
wrong with her husband, or else he would not have
welcomed his wife so coldly at the very moment of
his arrival.
After a few moments, during which she heard her
husband talking in an undertone with someone out-
side, he came in with his sword in his hand, and after
seeming to look for something, he turned to Mariska :
" Have you the keys of your treasure-box ? "
"Yes, they are in my secretaire."
The Prince took the keys and withdrew.
Mariska breathed again. "Then it is only some
money trouble after all," she thought. ''Thank God
it is no worse. They have lost something in the
camp, I suppose, or they are screwing some more
tribute out of him."
In a short time the Prince again returned, and
stood there for a time as if he couldn't make up his
mind to speak. At last he said :
" Mariska, have you any money? "
"Yes, dear!" Mariska hastened to answer, "just
ten thousand thalers. Do you want them ? "
" No, no. But have them all ready to hand, and
if you collected your jewels together at the same
time you would do well."
44 What for, my husband?"
" Because," stammered Ghyka, " because — we may
.—and vtry speedily, too — have to set out on our
travels."
" Have to travel — in my condition ? " asked Mariska,
raising a pathetic face up to her husband.
That look transfixed the very soul of Ghyka His
wife was in a condition nearer to death than to life.
"No, I wont stir a stump," he suddenly cried,
beside himself with agitation, striking his sword so
violently on the table that it flew from its sheath, " if
heaven itself fall on me, I won't go."
" For God's sake, my husband, what is the matter ? "
cried Mariska in her astonishment; whereupon the
Prince proudly raised his eyebrows, approached her
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THE PERSECUTED WOMAN. 157
with a smile, and pressing his wife to his bosom, said
reassuringly :
" Fear nothing. I had an idea in my head ; but I
have dismissed it, and will think of it no more.
Take it that I have asked you nothing."
" But your anxiety ? "
" It has gone already. Ask not the reason, for you
would laugh at me for it Sleep in peace. I also
will sleep upon it."
The husband caressed and kissed his wife, and his
hand trembled no longer, his face was no longer pale,
and his lips were no longer so cold as before.
But the wife's were now. When her husband
tenderly kissed her eyes and bade her sleep, she
pretended that she was satisfied ; but as soon as he
had withdrawn from her room, she arose, put on
a dressing-gown, and calling one of her maids,
descended with her into the hall, and sent for a
faithful old servant of her husband's, who was wont
to accompany him everywhere, an old Moldavian
courier.
"Jova!" she said, "speak the truth! What's the
matter with your master ? What have you seen and
heard?"
" It is a great trouble, my lady. God deliver us
from it ! We only escaped destruction at the battle
of St. Gothard by not standing up against the
Magyars. But what were we to do? Christian
cannot fight against Christian, for then should we be
fighting against God. The Turkish army was badly
beaten there. And now the Vizier of Buda, that he
may wash himself clean, for the Sultan is very wroth,
wants to cast the whole blame of the affair on the
head of the Prince."
" Great Heaven 1 And what will be the result ? "
"Well, it would not be a bad thing if your
Highnesses were to withdraw somewhere or other
for a time to give the Sultan's wrath time to cool."
u To my father's, eh ? in Wallachia ? "
•Well, a little farther than that, I should say."
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158 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
"True, we might go to Transylvania ; we have lots
of good friends there."
" Even there it might not be as well to stay. You
would do well to make a journey to Poland."
" Do you suppose the danger to be so great then ? "
" God grant it be not so bad as I think it."
" Thank you for your advice, Jova. I will tell my
husband quite early in the morning."
"My lady, you would do well not to wait till
morning."
The woman grew pale.
" What do you mean ? "
" I mean that if you would take care of yourselves,
you should take carriage this very night, this very
hour. I will go before the horses with a lantern, and
a courier shall be sent on ahead to have fresh relays
of horses awaiting us at every station, so that by the
time it begins to grow grey, we shall have left the
last hill of this region out of sight."
The terrified Princess returned to her bedchamber,
and quickly packed up her most valuable things,
making all the necessary preparations for a long
journey. But the door leading to her husband's
room was locked, and she durst not call him, but
with an indescribable sinking of heart awaited the
endlessly distant dawn. She was unable to close her
eyes the whole night Wearied out in body and soul
she rose as soon as she saw the light of dawn, sitting
with her swimming head against the window, whence
she could look down into the courtyard.
Gradually the courtyard awoke to life and noise
again, and the hall was peopled with domestics
hurrying to and fro. The grooms began walking
the horses up and down, the peasant girls with
pitchers on their heads were returning from the
distant wells, a merry voice began singing a popular
ditty in one of the outhouses. All this seemed as
strange to the watchful lady as the life and the
movement of the outside world seems to one con-
demned to death who gazes upon it from the window
of his cell.
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THE PERSECUTED WOMAN. 159
Then the door opened and her husband came out
of his bedchamber and greeted his wife with a voice
full of boisterous courage. He was dressed in a
short stagskin jacket, which he generally wore when
he went a-hunting, and wore big Polish boots with,
star-like spurs.
" Going a-hunting, eh ? " asked Mariska, from
whose soul all her terrifying phantoms vanished
instantly when her husband embraced her in his
vigorous arms.
"Yes, I'm going a-hunting. I feel so full of energy
that if I don't tumble about somewhere or other I
shall burst Any boar or bear that I come across
to-day will have good cause to remember me."
" Oh ! take care no ill befalls you I "
"Befalls me!" cried the Prince, proudly smiting
his herculean breast.
The lady flung herself on her husband's neck with
the confidence of a child, and lifting from his head
his saucy bonnet with its eagle plume, which gave
him such a brave appearance, and smoothing down
his curls, kissed his bonny face, and forgot all her
thoughts and visions of the bygone night.
The Prince withdrew, and Mariska opened her
window and looked out of it to see him mount his
horse.
While the Prince was going downstairs, a dirty
Turkish cavasse in sordid rags, entered the courtyard,
from which at other times he was wont to fetch
letters, and mingled with the ostlers and stablemen
without seeming to attract attention.
A few moments later the Prince ordered his horse
to be brought in a loud resonant voice, whereupon
the cavasse immediately came forward, and producing
from beneath his dirty dolman a sealed and corded
letter, pressed it to his forehead and then handed it to
the Prince.
The Prince broke open the letter and his face
suddenly turned pale ; taking off his cap, he bowed
low before the cavasse and saluted him.
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160 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
O Prince of Moldavia! to doff thy eagle-plumed
cap to a dirty cavasse, and bow thy haughty manly
brow before him ! Whatever can be the meaning of
it all ? Mariska's heart began to throb violently as
she gazed down from her window.
The Prince, with all imaginable deference, then
indicated the door of his castle to the cavasse and
invited him to enter first ; but the Turk with true
boorish insolence, signified that the Prince was to
lead the way.
Suddenly, in an illuminated flash, Mariska guessed
the mystery. In the moment of peril, with rare
presence of mind, she rushed to her secretaire, where
her jewels were. Her first thought was that the
cavasse had come for her husband ; he must be bribed
therefore to connive at his escape.
Then she saw hastening through the door the old
groom Jova. The face of the ancient servitor was
full of fear, and there were tears in his eyes.
11 Has the cavasse come for my husband, then ? "
she inquired tremulously.
"Yes, my lady," stammered the servant; "why
don't you make haste ? "
* Let us give him money. M
" He won't take it What is money to him ? If
he returns without the Prince his own head will be
forfeit"
" Merciful God ! Then what shall we do ? "
"My master whispered a few words in my ear, and
I fancy I caught their meaning. First of all I must
take you off to Transylvania, my lady. Meanwhile
my master will remain here with the cavasses and
their attendants, who are now in the courtyard. My
master will remain with them and spin out the time
till he feels pretty sure that we have got well beyond
the river Sereth in our carriage. Near there is a
bridge over a steep rocky -chasm, beneath which the
river flows. That bridge we will break down behind
us. The Prince will then bring forth his charger
Gryllus, on whose back he is wont to take such
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THE PERSECUTED WOMAN. 161
daring leaps, and will set out in the same direction
with the Turkish cavasses. When he approaches the
broken-down bridge, he will put spurs to his steed
and leap across the gap, while the Turks remain
behind. And after that God grant him good
counsel ! *
Mariska perceiving there was no time to be lost,
hastily collected her treasures and, assisted by Jova,
descended by way of the secret staircase to the chapel
and stood there, for a moment, before the image of
the Blessed Virgin to pray that her husband might
succeed in escaping. Before the chapel door stood
a carriage drawn by four muscular stallions. She
got into it quickly, and succeeded in escaping by a
side-gate.
Meanwhile the Prince, with great self-denial,
endeavoured to detain his unwelcome guests by all
manner of pretexts. First of all he almost com-
pelled them to eat and drink to bursting point,
swearing by heaven and earth that he would never
allow such precious guests as they were to leave his
castle with empty stomachs. Then followed a dis-
tribution of gifts. Every individual cavasse got a
sword or a beaker and every sword and every beaker
had its own peculiar history. So-and-so had worn it,
So-and-so had drunk out of it It had been found
here and sent there, and its last owner was such a
one, etc., etc. And he artfully interlarded his speech
with such sacred and sublime words as " Allah ! "
" Mahomet P " the Sultan ! " at the mention of each
one of which the cavasses felt bound to interrupt him
repeatedly with such expressions as " Blessed be his
name 1" so that despite the insistence of the Turks,
it was fully an hour before his horse could be
brought forward.
At last, however, Gryllus was brought round to the
courtyard. The Prince now also would have
improved the occasion by telling them a nice
interesting tale about this steed of his, but the chief
cavasse would give him no peace.
L
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162 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
" Come ! mount your Honour ! " said he, u you can
tell us the story on the way."
The Prince mounted accordingly, and immediately
began to complain how very much all the galloping
of the last few days had taken it out of him, and
begged his escort not to hurry on so as he could
scarce sit in his saddle.
The chief cavasse, taking him at his word, had the
Prince's feet tied fast to his stirrups, so that he might
not fall off his horse, sarcastically adding :
" If your honour should totter in your saddle, I
shall be close beside you, so that you may lean upon
me.
And indeed the chief cavasse trotted by his side
with a drawn sword in his hand ; the rest were a
horse's head behind them.
When they came to the path leading to the bridge
the way grew so narrow because of the rocks on both
sides that it was as much as two horsemen could do
to ride abreast The Prince already caught sight of
the bridge, and though its wooden frame was quite
hidden by a projecting tree, a white handkerchief
tied to the tree informed him that his carriage with
his consort inside it had got across and away, and
that the supports had been also cut.
At this point he made as if he felt faint and turning
to the chief cavasse, said to him, " Come nearer, I
want to lean on you ! * and upon the cavasse leaning
fatuously towards him he dealt him such a fearful
blow with his clenched fist that the Turk fell right
across his horse. And now: "Onward, my Gryllus!"
The gallant steed with a bound forward left the
escort some distance behind, and while they dashed
after him with a savage howl, he darted with the
fleetness of the wind towards the bridge.
The Prince sat tied to his horse without either
arms or spurs, but the noble charger, as if he felt
that his master's life was now entrusted to his safe-
keeping, galloped forward with ten-fold energy.
Suddenly it became clear to the pursuers that the
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THE PERSECUTED WOMAN. 163
beams of the bridge had been severed and only the
balustrade remained. "Stop!" they shouted in
terror to the Prince, at the same time reining in their
own horses. Then Ghyka turned towards them a
haughty face, and leaning over his horse's head,
pressed its flanks with his knees, and at the very
moment when he had reached the dizzy chasm he
laughed aloud as he raised his eagle-plumed cap in
the air ,and shouted to his pursuers : " Follow me, if
you dare ! "
The charger the same instant lowered its head
upon its breast, and, with a well-calculated bound,
leaped the empty space between the two sides of the
bridge as lightly as a bird. The Prince as he flew
through the air held his eagle-plumed cap in his
hand, while his black locks fluttered round his bold
face.
The terrified cavasses drew the reins of their horses
tightly lest they should plunge after Gryllus ; but one
of them, carried away by his maddened steed, would
also have made the bold leap but the fore feet of the
horse barely grazed the opposite bank, and with a
mortal yell it crashed down with its rider among the
rocks of the stream below.
The Prince meanwhile, beneath the very eyes of
the cavasses, loosened the cords from his legs on the
opposite shore and also allowed himself time enough
to break down the remaining balustrades of the
bridge, one by one, and pitch them into the river.
Then, remounting his steed, he ambled leisurely off
whilst the cavasses gazed after him in helpless fury.
A rapid two hours 1 gallop enabled him to overtake
the carriage of his wife, who, according to his
directions, had hastened without stopping towards
Transylvania with the sole escort of the old horse-
maa
On overtaking the carriage he mounted the old
man on his own nag, and sent him on before to
Transylvania requesting the Prince to allow him
and his wife to pass through Transylvania to the
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164 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
domains of the Kaiser. He himself took a seat in
the carriage by the side of Mariska, who was quite
rejoiced at her husband's deliverance, and forgot the
anxieties still awaiting her.
According to the most rigorous calculations their
pursuers would either have to go another way, or
they might throw another bridge over the Sereth ;
but, in any case they had a day's clear start of them,
which would be quite sufficient to enable them,
travelling leisurely, to reach the borders of Tran-
sylvania, where the Seraskier of Moldavia had no
jurisdiction.
In this hope they presently perceived the mountains
of Szeklerland rising up before them, and the nearer
they came to them the more lightly they felt their
hearts beat, regarding the mountain range as a vast
city of refuge stretching out before them.
They had already struck into that deep-lying road
which leads to the Pass of Porgo, which, after
winding along the bare hillside, plunges like a
serpent into the shady flowering valleys beneath, and
every now and then a mountain* stream darted along
the road beside them ; above them the dangerous road
looked like a tiny notch in which a heavy wagon
crawled slowly along, with lofty rocks apparently
tottering to their fall above it in every direction.
And here galloping straight towards them, was a
horseman in whom the Prince instantly recognised
his avant courier.
Old Jova reached them in a state of exhaustion,
and Gryllus also seemed ready to drop.
" Go no further, sir ! " cried the terrified servant,
44 1 have come all the way without stopping from
SzamosujvAr where the Prince is staying. I laid
your request before him. 'For God's sake!' cried
the Prince, clasping his hands together, 'don't let
your master come here, or he'll ruin the whole lot of
us. Olaj Beg has just come hither with the Sultan's
command that if the Prince of Moldavia comes here
he is to be handed over.' "
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THE PERSECUTED WOMAN. 165
The Prince gazed gloomily in front of him, his lips
trembled. Then he turned his face round and
shading his eyes with his hand, gazed away into the
distance. On the same road by which he hapl come
a cloud of dust could be seen rapidly approaching.
" Those are our pursuers," he moaned despairingly ;
41 there is nothing for it but to die."
" Nay, my master. Over yonder is a mountain
path which can only be traversed on foot With
worthy Szeklers or Wallachs as our guides we may
get all the way to Poland through the mountains.
Why not take refuge there ?"
" And my wife ? " asked the Prince, looking round
savagely and biting his lips in his distress ; " she
cannot accompany me."
All this time Mariska had remained, benumbed
and speechless, gazing at her husband — her heart,
her mind, stood still at these terrible tidings ; but
when she heard that her husband could be saved
without her, she plunged out of the carriage and
falling at his feet implored him, sobbing loudly, to
fly.
* Save yourself" she cried ; u do not linger here on
my account another instant"
"And sacrifice you, my consort, to their fury ?"
" They will not hurt me, for they do not pursue
an innocent woman. God will defend me. You go
into Transylvania ; there live good friends of mine,
whose husbands and fathers are the leading men in the
State ; there is the heroic Princess, there is the gentle
Bdldi with her angel daughter, there is Teleki's
daughter Flora — we swore eternal friendship together
once — they will mediate for us ; and then, too, my
rich father will gladly spend his money to spare our
blood. And if I must suffer and even die, it will be
for you, my husband Save yourself I In Heaven's
name I implore you to depart from me."
Ghyka reflected for a moment
" Very well, I will take refuge in order to be able
to save you."
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166 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
And he pressed the pale face of his wife to his
bosom.
M Make haste," said Mariska, " I also want to hasten.
If die I must — I would prefer to die among
Christians, in the sight of my friends and acquaint-
ances. But you go on in front, for if they were to
slay you before my eyes, it would need no sword to
slay me ; my heart would break from sheer despair."
"Come, sir, come!" said the old courier, seizing
the hand of the Prince and dragging him away by
force.
Mariska got into the carriage again, and told the
coachman to drive on quickly. The Prince allowed
himself to be guided by the old courier along the
narrow pass, looking back continually so long as the
carriage was visible, and mournfully pausing when-
ever he caught sight of it again from the top of some
mountain-ridge.
" Come on, sir ! come on ! w the old servant kept
insisting; "when we have reached that mountain
summit yonder we shall be able to rest"
Ghyka stumbled on as heavily as if the mountain
was pressing on his bosom with all its weight He
allowed himself to be led unconsciously among the
steep precipices, clinging on to projecting bushes as
he went along. God guarded him from falling a
hundred times.
After half an hour's hard labour they reached the
indicated summit, and as the courier helped his
master up and they looked around them, Nature's
magnificent tableau stood before them ; and looking
down upon a vast panorama, they saw the tiny
winding road by which his wife had gone; and,
looking still farther on, he perceived that the carriage
had just climbed to the summit of a declivity about
half a league off.
Ah I that sight gave him back his soul. He
followed with his eyes the travelling coach, and as
often as the coach ascended a higher hill, it again
appeared in sight, and it seemed to him as if all
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THE PERSECUTED WOMAN. 167
along he saw inside it his wife, and his face brightened
as he fancied himself kissing away her tears.
At that instant a loud uproar smote upon his ears.
At the foot of the steep mountain, on the summit of
which his wife had just come into sight again, he saw
a troop of horsemen trotting rapidly along. These
were the pursuers. They seemed scarcely larger
than ants.
Ah I how he would have liked to have trampled
those ants to death.
" You would pursue her, eh ? Then I will stop you"
And with these words seizing a large grey rock
from among those which were heaped upon the
summit, he rolled it down the side of the mountain
just as the Turks had reached a narrow defile.
With a noise like thunder the huge mass of rock
plunged its way down the mountain-side, taking great
leaps into the air whenever it encountered any
obstacle. Ah! how the galloping rock plunged
among the terrified horsemen — only a streak of blood
remained in its track, horses and horsemen were
equally crushed beneath it
With a second, with a third rock also he greeted
them. The cavasses, at their wits' end, fled back,
and never stopped till they had clambered up the
opposite ridge; they did not feel safe among the
plunging rocks below and there they could be seen
deliberating how it was possible to reach the road
behind their backs.
Guessing their intention, the Prince sent his servant
to fling a rock down upon them from the hillside
beyond, which, as it came clattering down, made the
cavasses believe that their enemies were in force, and
they climbed higher up stilL
M There they will remain till evening," thought the
Prince to himself; M so they will not overtake Mariska
after alL n
And so it conveniently turned out The cavasses,
after consulting together for a long time fruitlessly
as to what road they should take to get out of the
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168 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
dangerous pass, began to yell from their lofty perch
at their invisible foes, threatening them with the
highest displeasure of the Sultan if they did not
allow them to pass through in peace; and when a
fresh shower of rocks came down by way of reply,
they unsaddled their horses and allowing them to
graze about at will, lit a fire and squatted down beside
it.
******
Meanwhile, the hunted lady, exchanging her tired
horses for four fresh ones in the first Transylvanian
village she came to, pressed onwards without stopping.
Travelling all night she reached Szamosujvir in the
early morning. The Prince was no longer there: He
had migrated in hot haste, they said, before the rising
of the sun, to Klausenberg.
Mariska did not descend from her carriage, but
only changed her horses. Three days and three
nights she had already been travelling, without rest,
in sickness and despair. And again she must hasten
on farther. It was evening when they reached
Klausenberg. The coachman, when he saw the
towers in the distance, turned round to her with the
comforting assurance that they would now be at
Klausenberg very shortly. At these words the lady
begged the coachman not to go so quickly, and when
he lashed up his horses still more vigorously not-
withstanding, and cast a look behind him, she also
looked through the window at the back of the
carriage and saw a band of horsemen galloping after
them along the road.
So their pursuers were as near to them behind as
Klausenberg was in front
There was not a moment's delay. The coachman
whipped up the horses, their nostrils steamed, foam
fell from their lips, they plunged wildly forward, the
pebbles flashed sparks beneath their hoofs, the
carriage swayed to and fro on the uneven road, the
persecuted lady huddled herself into a corner of the
carriage, and prayed to God for deliverance.
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CHAPTER XIV.
OLAJ BEG.
The Prince was just then standing in the portico of
his palace conversing with the Princess, whose face
bore strong marks of the sufferings of the last few days.
Shortly after the panic of Nagyened she had given
birth to a little daughter, and the terror experienced
at the time had had a bad effect on both mother and
child.
Apafi's brow was also clouded. The Prince's heart
was sore, and not merely on his own account When-
ever there was any distress in the principality he also
was distressed, but his own sorrow he had to share
alone.
For some days he had found no comfort in whatever
direction he might turn. The Turks had made him
feel their tyranny everywhere, and the foreign courts
had listened to his tale of distress with selfish
indifference; while the great men of the realm
dubbed him a tyrant, the common folks sung lampoons
upon his cowardice beneath his very windows ; and
when he took refuge in the bosom of his family he
was met by a sick wife, who had ceased to find any
joy in life ever since he had been made Prince.
A sick wife is omnipotent as regards her husband.
If Anna had insisted upon her husband's quitting his
princely palace, and returning with her to their quiet
country house at Ebesfalu — where there was no
kingdom but the kingdom of Heaven — perhaps he
would even have done that for her.
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i7o THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
As the princely pair stood on the castle battle-
ments, the din of the town grew deeper, and suddenly
the rumble of a carriage, driven at full tilt, broke
upon the dreamy stillness of the castle courtyard, and
dashing into it stopped before the staircase ; the door
of the coach was quickly thrown open and out of it
rushed a pale woman, who, rallying her last remaining
strength, ran up the staircase and collapsed at the
feet of the Prince as he hastened to meet her,
exclaiming as she did so :
" I am Mariska Sturdza."
* For the love of God," cried the agitated Prince,
"why did you come here? You have destroyed the
state and me ; you have brought ruin on yourself and
on us."
The unfortunate lady was unable to utter another
word. Her energy was exhausted. She lay there on
the marble floor, half unconscious.
The Princess Apafi summoned her ladies-in-waiting,
who, at her command, hastened to raise the lady in
their arms and began to sprinkle her face with
eau-de-Cologne.
" I cannot allow her to be brought into my house,"
cried the terrified Apafi ; " it would bring utter
destruction on me and my family."
The Princess cast a look full of dignity upon her
husband.
"What do you mean? Would you hand this
unfortunate woman over to her pursuers? In her
present condition, too? Suppose / was obliged to
fly in a similar plight, would you fling me out upon
the high road instead of offering me a place of
refuge?"
" But the wrath of the Sultan ? "
" Yes ; and the contempt of posterity ? "
"Then would you have me bring ruin upon my
throne and my family for the sake of a woman ? "
• Better perish for the sake of a woman than do
that woman to death. If you shut your rooms
against her, I will open mine wide to receive her, and
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OLAJ BEG. 171
then you can tell the Sultan if you like that I have
taken her."
Apafi felt that his wife's obstinacy was getting him
into a hideous muddle. This audacious woman would
listen to no reasons of state in any matter which
interested her humanity.
What was he to do? He pitied the persecuted
lady from the bottom of his heart, but the emissary
of the Sublime Porte, Olaj Beg, had come to demand
her with plenipotentiary power. If he did not shelter
the persecuted lady he would pronounce himself a
coward in the face of the whole world ; if he did
shelter her, the Porte would annihilate him !
In the midst of this dilemma, one of the gate-
keepers came in hot haste to announce that a band
of Turkish soldiers was at that moment galloping
along the road, inquiring in a loud voice for the
Princess of Wallachia.
Apafi leant in dumb despair against a marble pillar
whilst Anna quickly ordered her women to carry the
unconscious lady to her innermost apartments and
summon the doctor. She then went out on the
balcony, and perceiving that the cavasses had just
halted in front of the palace, she cried to the gate-
keepers :
"Close the gates!"
Apafi would have very much liked to have counter-
manded the order; but while he was still thinking
about it, the gates were snapped to under the very
noses of the cavasses.
They began angrily beating with the shafts of their
lances against the closed gate, whereupon the Princess
called down to them from the balcony with a sonorous,
authoritative voice :
"Ye good-for-nothing rascals, wherefore all that
racket ? This is not a barrack, but the residence of
the Prince. Perchance ye know it not, because fresh
human heads are wont to be nailed over the gates of
your Princes every day as a mark of recognition ? If
that is what you are accustomed to, your error is
pardonable."
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i7» THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
The cavasses were considerably startled at these
words, and, looking up at the imperious lady, began
to see that she really meant what she said. For a
while they laid their heads together, and then turned
round and departed.
Apafi sighed deeply.
" There is some hidden trick in this" said he, " but
what it is God only knows."
A few moments later a muderris appeared from
Olaj Beg at the gate of the Prince, and, being all
alone, was admitted.
"Olaj Beg greets thee, and thou must come to
him quickly," said he.
Anna had drawn near to greet her guest, but
hearing that Olaj Beg summoned the Prince to
appear before him, she approached the messenger,
boiling over with wrath.
• 4 Whoever heard," she said, u of a servant ordering
his master about, or an ambassador summoning the
Prince to whose Court he is accredited ? "
But Apafi could only cake refuge in a desperate
falsehood.
" Poor Olaj Beg," he explained, " is very sick and
cannot stir from his bed, and, indeed, he humbly begs
me to pay him a visit. There is no humiliation in
this — none at all, if I am graciously pleased to do it.
He is an old man of eighty. I might be his grand-
son, he is wont to scold me as if I were his darling ; I
will certainly go to him, and put this matter right
with him. You go to your sick guest and comfort
her. I give you my word I will do everything to get
her set free. For her sake I will humble myself."
The Princess Apafi's foresight already suggested
to her that this humiliation would be permanent, but,
perceiving that her own strength of mind was not
contagious, she allowed her husband to depart
Apafi prepared himself for his visit upon Olaj Beg.
With a peculiar feeling of melancholy he did not put
on his princely dolman of green velvet, but only the
kantos of a simple nobleman, imagining that thus it
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OLAJ BEG. 175
would not be the Prince of Transylvania but the
squire of Ebesfalu who was paying a visit on Olaj
Beg. He went on foot to the house of Olaj Beg,
accompanied by a single soldier, who had to put on
his everyday clothes.
The dogs had been let loose in the courtyard, for
the Beg was a great protector of animals, and used
to keep open table in front of his dwelling for the
wandering dogs of every town he came to.
Making his way through them, Apafi had to cross
a hall and an ante-chamber, brimful with praying
dervishes, who, squatting down with legs crossed,
were reading aloud from books with large clasps,
only so far paying attention to each other as to see
which could yell the loudest
The Prince did not address them, as it was clear
that he would get no answer, but went straight
towards the third door.
The chamber beyond was also full of spiders'-webs
and dervishes, but a red cushion had been placed in
the midst of it, and on this cushion sat a big, pale,
grey man in a roomy yellow caftan. He also was
holding a large book in front of him and reading
painfully.
Apafi approached, and even ventured to address him.
"Merciful Olaj Beg, my gracious master, find a
full stop somewhere in that book of yours, turn down
the leaf at the proper spot, put it down, and listen
to me."
Olaj Beg, on hearing the words of the Prince, put
the book aside, and turning with a sweet and tender
smile towards him, remarked with emotion :
" The angels of the Prophet bear thee up in all thy
ways, my dear child. Heaven preserve every hair of
thy beard, and the Archangel Izrafil go before thee
and sweep every stone from thy path, that thy feet
may not strike against them ! "
With these words the Beg graciously extended his
right hand to be kissed, blinking privily at the Prince ;
nor would Apafi have minded kissing it if they had
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174 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
been all alone, but in the presence of so many
dervishes it would have been derogatory to his
dignity ; so, instead of doing so, he took the Beg's
hand and provisionally placed it in his left hand and
gave it a resounding thump with his right, and then
shook it amicably as became a friend.
"Don't trouble thyself, my dear son, I will not
suffer thee to kiss my hand," cried Olaj Beg, drawing
back his hand and making a show of opposition so
that everyone might fancy that Apafi was angry with
him for not being allowed to kiss it
"You have deigned to send for me," said Apafi,
taking a step backwards ; " tell me, I pray, what you
desire, for my time is short I am overwhelmed with
affairs of state."
These last words Apafi pronounced with as majestic
an intonation as possible.
Olaj Beg thereupon folded his hands together.
" Oh, my dear son ! " said he, " the princely dignity
is indeed a heavy burden. I see that quite well, nor
am I in the least surprised that thou wishest to be
relieved of it ; but be of good cheer, the blessing of
Heaven will come upon us when we are not praying
for it; when thou dost least expect it the Sublime
Sultan will have compassion upon thee, and will
deliver thee of the heavy load which presses upon
thy shoulders."
Apafi wrinkled his brows. The exordium was bad
enough ; he hastened towards the end of the business.
" Perchance, you have heard, gfacious Olaj Beg !
that the unfortunate Mariska Sturdza has taken
refuge with us."
" It matters not," signified the Beg, with a reassuring
wave of the hand
" She took refuge in my palace without my know-
ledge," observed Apafi apologetically, "and what
could I do when she was all alone ? I couldn't turn
her out of my house."
" There was no necessity. Thou didst as it became
a merciful man to do."
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OLAJ BEG. 175
"If you had seen her you would yourself have
felt sorry for her — sick, half-dead, desperate, she flung
herself at my feet, imploring compassion, and before I
could reply to her she had fainted away. Perhaps
even now she is dead."
- Oh, poor child ! " cried Olaj Beg, folding both
his hands and raising his eyes to Heaven.
"Her husband had left her in great misery, and
alone she plunged into jeopardy/' continued Apafi,
trying to justify the persecuted woman in every
possible manner.
M Oh, poor, unhappy child ! " cried Olaj Beg,
shaking his head.
"And more than that," sighed Apafi, "the poor
woman is big with child."
" What dost thou say ? *
" Yes, sir, and flying day and night in aU sorts of
weathers from her pursuers in such a condition, you
can imagine her wretched condition ; she was scarce
alive, she was on the very threshold of death."
" Allah be gracious to her and extend over her the
wings of his mercy 1 "
Apafi began to think that he had found Olaj Beg
in a charitable humour.
" I knew that you would not be angry about her."
" I am not angry, my son, I am not angry. My
eyes overflow at her sad fate."
"She, you know, had no share in her husband's
faults."
" Far from it."
44 And it would not be right that an innocent woman
should atone for what her husband has committed."
" Certainly not."
"Then do you think, my lord, that the Sublime
Sultan will be merciful to this woman ? "
" What a question I Have no fear for her ! "
Apafi was not so simple as not to be struck by this
exaggerated indulgence, the more satisfactory were
the Beg's replies the keener grew his feeling of
anxiety. At last, much perturbed, he ventured to
put this question :
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i 7 6 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
"Gracious Beg! will you allow this unfortunate
woman to rest in peace at my house, and can you
assure me that the Sublime Sultan will espouse her
cause ? "
" The Holy Book says : ' Be merciful to them that
suffer and compassionate them that weep.' There-
fore, behold I grant thee thy desire : let this poor
innocent woman repose in thy house in peace, let her
rest thoroughly from her sufferings and let her enjoy
the blessedness of peace till such time as I must take
her from thee by the command of the Grand
Seignior."
Apafi felt his brain reel, so marvellous, so terrible
was this graciousness of the Turk towards him.
u And when think you you will require this woman
to be handed over ? "
Olaj Beg, with a reassuring look, tapped Apafi on
the shoulder, and said with a voice full of unction :
u Fret not thyself, my dear son ! In no case will
it be earlier than to-morrow morning."
Apafi almost collapsed in his fright.
a To-morrow morning, do you say, my lord ? "
* I promise thee she shall not be disturbed before."
Apafi perceived that the man had been making
sport with him all along. Rage began to seethe in
his heart
"But, my lord, I said nothing about one day.
One day is the period allowed to condemned
criminals."
"Days and seasons come from Allah, and none
may divide them."
* Damn you soft sawder ! " murmured Apafi between
his teeth. " My lord," he resumed, " would you carry
away with you a sick woman whom only the most
tender care can bring back from the shores of Death,
and who, if she were now to set out for Buda, would
never reach it, for she would die on the way ? "
Olaj Beg piously raised his hands to Heaven.
* Life and death are inscribed above in the Book of
Thora, and if it there be written in letters embellished
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OLAJ BEG. 177
with roses and tulips that Mariska Sturdza must die
to-morrow, or the day after to-morrow, die she will
most certainly, though she lay upon musk and were
anointed with the balm of life, and neither the
prayers of the saints nor the lore of the Sages could
save her — but if it be written that she is to live, then
let the Angels of Death come against her with every
manner of weapon and they shall not harm her."
Apafi saw that he would have to speak very plainly
to this crafty old man.
"Worthy Olaj Beg! you know that this realm
has a constitution which enjoins that the Prince
himself must not issue ordinances in the more
weighty matters without consulting his counsellors.
Now, the present case seems to me to be so important
that I cannot inform you of my resolution till I
have communicated it to my council."
"It is well, my dear son, I have no objection.
Speak with those servants of thine whom thou hast
made thy masters; sit in thy council chamber and
let the matter be well considered as it deserves to
be ; and if thereafter ye decide that the Princess shall
accompany me, I will take her away and take leave
of thee with great honour ; but if it should so fall out
that ye do not give her up to me, my dear son, or
should allow her to escape from me — then will I
take thee instead of her, together with thy brave
counsellors, my sweet son."
The Beg said these words in the sweetest, tenderest
voice, as old grandfathers are wont to address their
grandchildren, and descending from his pillows he
stroked the Prince's face with both his hands, and
kissed him on the temples with great good will, quite
covering his head with his long white beard.
Apafi felt as if the whole room were dancing around
him. He did not speak a word, but turned on his axis
and went right out. He himself did not know how he
got through the first door, but by the time he had
shut the second door behind him he bethought him
that he was still the Prince of Transylvania, and by
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17* THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
descent one of the first noblemen of the land, whereas
Olaj Beg was only a nasty, dirty Turkish captain, who
had been a camel-driver in the days of his youth, and
yet had dared to speak to him, the Prince, like that !
By the time he had reached the third door he had
reflected that in the days when he was nothing but
the joint-tenant of Ebesfalu, if Olaj Beg had dared
to treat him so shamefully, he would have broken
his bald head for him with a stout truncheon. But
had he not just such a stout truncheon actually
hanging by his side? Yes, he had ! and he would go
back and strike Olaj Beg with it, not exactly on the
head perhaps, but, at any rate, on the back that he
might remember for the rest of his life the stylus
curialis of Transylvania.
And with that he turned back from the third door
with very grave resolves.
But when he had re-opened the second door he
bethought him once more that such violence might be
of great prejudice to the realm, and besides, there
was not very much glory after all in striking an old
man of eighty. But at any rate he would tell him
like a man what it had not occurred to him to say in
the first moment of his surprise.
So when he had opened the first door and was in
the presence of Olaj Beg, he stood there on the
threshold with the door ajar, and said to him in a
voice of thunder :
" Hearken, Olaj Beg I I have come back simply
to tell you "
Olaj Beg looked at him.
M What dost thou say, my good son ? *
"This," continued Apafi in a very much lower
key, " that it will take time to summon the council,
for B61di lives at Bodoli, Teleki at Gernyeszeg,
Csaky at D£va, and until they come together you
can do what you think best : you may remain here or
go" — and with that he turned back, and only when
he had slammed to the door he added — "to hell 1"
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CHAPTER XV,
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This incident was the occasion of great affliction to
the Estates of Transylvania. The counsellors assem-
bled at the appointed time at the residence of the
Prince, who at that moment would have felt happier
as a Tartar captive than as the ruler of Transylvania.
On the day of the session everyone appeared in
the council chamber with as gloomy a countenance
as if he were about to pronounce his own death-
warrant
They took their places in silence, and everyone
took great care that his sword should not rattle.
There were present : old John and young Michael
Bethlen, Paul B£ldi, Caspar Kornis, Ladislaus
Csaky, Joshua Kapi, and the protonotarius, Francis
Sdrpataky. For the Prince, there had just been
prepared a new canopied throne, with three steps;
it was the first time he had sat on it Beside it was
an empty arm-chair, reserved for Michael TelekL
As soon as the guard of the chamber announced
that the counsellors had assembled, the Prince at
once appeared, accompanied by Michael Teleki and
Stephen Naliczi.
It could be seen from the Prince's face that for at
least two hours Teleki had been filling his head with
talk. Nalaczi greeted everyone present with a
courtly smile, but nobody smiled back at him.
Teleki, with cold gravity, led the Prince to the
throne. The latter on first looking up at the throne,
stood before it as if thunderstruck, and seemed to be
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180 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
deliberating for a moment whether it ought not to be
taken away and a simple chair put in its place. But
after thinking it well out he mounted the steps, and,
sighing deeply, took his seat upon it
Michael Teleki stood silent in his place for some
time, as if he was collecting his thoughts. His eyes
did not travel along the faces of those present as
they generally did to watch the effect of his words,
but were fixed on the clasp of his kalpag, and his
voice was much duller than at other times, often
sinking to tremulous depths, except when he pulled
himself together and tried to give it a firmer tone.
"Your Highness, your Excellencies, — God has
reserved peculiar trials for our unfortunate nation.
One danger has scarce passed over us when we
plump into another; when we try to avoid the
lesser perils, we find the greater ones directly in our
path, and we end in sorrow what we began in joy.
Scarcely have we got over the tidings of the battle of
St Gothard (we had our own melancholy reasons
for not participating therein), and the consequent
annihilation of the far-reaching designs of the
Turkish Empire, by the peace contracted between
the two great Powers, amidst whose quarrels our
unhappy country is buffeted about as if between
hammer and anvil, when we have a fresh and still
greater occasion for apprehension. For the generals
of the Turkish Sultan impute the loss of the
battle to the premature flight of Prince Ghyka, and
at the same time hold us partly responsible for it —
and certainly, had our soldiers stood in the place of
the Wallachian warriors, although they would not
have liked fighting their fellow-Magyars, nevertheless,
if once they had been in for it, they would not have
run away and so the battle would not have been
lost — wherefore the wrath of the Sublime Sultan
was so greatly kindled against both the neighbouring
nations, that he sent his cavasses to seize the Prince
of Moldavia and carry him in chains to Stambul
with his whole family. As for Transylvania, but
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THE WOMEN'S DEFENCE. 181
for the mercy of God and the goodwill of certain
Turkish statesmen, we might have seen it suddenly
converted into a sandjak or province, and a fez-
wearing Fasha on the throne of his Highness. Now
it has so happened that the Prince of Moldavia, wrest-
ing himself and his wife out of the hands of their
pursuers, took the shortest road to Transylvania.
We sent a message to them that on no account
were they to try to come here, as their flight would
cost us more than a Tartar invasion. The Prince,
therefore, took refuge in the mountains, but let his
wife continue her journey, and, in an evil hour for us
and herself, she arrived here a few days ago with the
knowledge and under the very eyes of the Sultan's
plenipotentiary. The husband having escaped, the
whole wrath of the Sultan is turned upon the wife
and upon us also if we try to defend her. What,
then, are we to do? If we had to choose between
shame and death, I should know what to say; but
here our choice is only between two kinds of shame :
either to hand over an innocent, tender woman, who
has appealed to us for protection, or see a Turkish
Pasha sitting on the throne of the Prince I "
" But there's a third course, surely," said B61di, " by
way of petition ? "
"I might indeed make the request," interrupted
Apafi, " but I know very well what answer I should
get"
" I do not mean petitioning the envoy," returned
B£ldi. a Who would humiliate himself by petitioning
the servant when he could appeal to the master ? *
At this Apafi grew dumb; he could not bring
forward the fact that he had already petitioned the
servant
" I believe that B61di is right," said young Michael
Bethlen, "and that is the only course we can take.
I am well aquainted with the mood of an eastern
Despot when he gets angry, and I know that at such
times it is nothing unusual for him it to level towns to
the ground and decapitate viceroys ; but fortunately
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i8a THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
for Transylvania it is situated in Europe, where one
state has some regard for another, and it is the
interest of all the European kingdoms to maintain a
free state between themselves and the Ottoman
Empire, even if it be only a small one like Tran-
sylvania. And it seems to me that if our petition be
supported at Stambul by the French, Austrian, and
Polish ambassadors, there will be no reason for the
Sultan, especially after such a defeat as the last one,
to send a Pasha to Transylvania And, finally, if
we show him that our swords have not rusted in their
scabbards, and that we know how to draw them on
occasion, he will not be disposed to do so."
The youth's enthusiastic speech began to pour
fresh confidence into the souls of those who heard
him, and their very faces appeared to brighten
because of it
Teleki shook his head slowly.
"I tell your Excellencies it will be a serious
business/' said he. "I am obliged to arouse you
from an agreeable dream by confronting you with a
rigorous fact Europe has not the smallest care for
our existence; we only find allies when they have
need of our sacrifices ; let us begin to petition, and
they know us no more. It is true that at one time I
said something very different, but time is such a
good master that it teaches a man more in one day
than if he had gone through nine schools. In conse-
quence of the battle of St Gothard, peace has been
concluded between the two Emperors. I have read
every article of it, every point, and we are left out of
it altogether, as if we were a nation quite unworthy
of consideration. Yet the French, the English, and
the Polish ministers were there, and I can say that
not one of them received so much pay from his own
court as he received from us. If they want war, oh !
then we are a great and glorious nation ; but when
peace is concluded they do not even know that we
are there. In war we may lead the van, but in the
distribution of rewards we are left far behind. And
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THE WOMEN'S DEFENCE. 183
now the Pasha of Buda, who is bent upon oar
destruction and would like to set a pasha over
Transylvania, after the last defeat, has sent down
Yffim Beg to us to go from village to village
demanding why the arrears of taxes have not been
paid, and then he is coming to the Prince to ask the
cause of the remissness and threaten him with the
vengeance of the Pasha of Buda.' 1
There was a general murmur of indignation.
" Ah, gentlemen, let us confess to each other that
we play at being masters in our own home, but in
fact we are masters there no longer. We may trust to
our efforts and rely upon our rights, but we have none
to help us ; we have no allies either on the right hand
or on the left ; we have only our masters. We may
change our masters, but we shall never win con-
federates. The Power which stands above us is only
awaiting an opportunity to carry out its designs upon
us, and no one could render it a better service in
Transylvania than by raising his head against it
We have all of us a great obligation laid upon us : to
recognise the little we possess, take care to preserve it,
and, if the occasion arise, insist upon it It is true that
while the sword is in our hands we may defend all
Europe with it ; but let our sword once be broken and
our whole realm falls to pieces and the heathen will
trample upon us in the sight of all the nations. We
shall bleed for a half-century or so, and nobody will
come to our assistance ; the gates of our realm will be
guarded by our enemies ; and, like the scorpion in a
fiery circle, we shall only turn the bitterness of our
hearts against ourselves. Do you want reasons, then,
why we should not defend those hunted creatures who
seek a refuge with us? The World and Fate have
settled their accounts with us; this realm is left
entirely to its own devices. Matters standing thus, if we
refuse to deliver up to Olaj Beg the above-mentioned
Princess of Moldavia, the armies of the Pashas of Buda
and Gross wardein will instantly receive orders to reduce
Transylvania to the rank of a vassal state of the
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i8 4 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
Porte. There is no room here for regret or humanity,
self-preservation is our one remaining duty and the
duty of self-preservation demands that where we
have no choice, we should do voluntarily what we
may be forced to do."
Teleki had scarce finished these words than an
attendant announced that the Princess of Moldavia
requested admittance into the council chamber.
Apafi would have replied in the negative, but
Teleki signified that she might as well come in.
A few moments later the attendant again appeared
and requested permission for the ladies of the
Princess's suite to accompany their mistress, as she
was too weak to walk alone.
Teleki consented to that also.
The counsellors cast down their eyes when the
door opened. But there is a sort of spell which
forces a man to look in the very direction in which
he would not, in which he fears to look, and lo
and behold ! when the door opened and the hunted
woman entered with her suite, a cry of astonishment
resounded from every lip. For of what did the
woman's suite consist? It consisted of the most
eminent ladies of Transylvania. The wives and
daughters of all the counsellors present accompanied
the unfortunate lady, foremost among them being
the Princess and Dame Michael Teleki, on whose
shoulders she leaned ; and last of all came old Dame
Bethlen, with dove-white hair. All the most respect-
able matrons, the loveliest wives, and fairest maidens
of the realm were there.
The unfortunate Princess, whose pale face was full
ef suffering, advanced on the arms of her supporters
towards the throne of the Prince. Her knees tottered
beneath her, her whole body trembled like a leaf,
she opened her lips, but no sound proceeded from
them.
" Courage, my child," whispered Anna Bornemissza,
pressing her hand; whereupon the tears suddenly
burst from the eyes of the unfortunate woman, and,
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THE WOMEN'S DEFENCE. 185
breaking from her escort, she flung herself at the feet
of the Prince, embracing his knees with her convulsive
arms, and raising towards him her tear-stained face,
exclaimed with a heart-rending voice : " Mercy ! . .
Mercy!"
A cold dumbness sat on every lip; it was im-
possible for a time to hear anything but the woman's
deep sobbing. The Prince sat like a statue on his
throne, the steps of which Mariska Sturdza moistened
with her tears. The silence was painful to evefyone,
yet nobody dared to break it
Teleki smoothed away his forelock from his broad
forehead, but he could not smooth away the wrinkles
which had settled there. He regretted that he had
given occasion to this scene.
" Mercy I " sobbed the poor woman once more, and
half unconsciously her hand slipped from Apafi's
knees. Aranka B6\di rushed towards her and rested
her declining head on her own pretty childlike
bosom.
Then Anna Bornemissza stepped forward, and after
throwing a stony glance upon all the counsellors
present, who cast down their eyes before her, looked
Apafi straight in the face with her own bright,
penetrating, soul-searching eyes, till her astonished
husband was constrained to return her glance almost
without knowing it
44 My petition is a brief one," said Dame Apafi in
a low, deep, though perfectly audible voice. "An
unfortunate woman, whom the Lord of Destiny did
not deem to be sufficiently chastened by a single
blow, has lost in one day her husband, her home, and
her property ; she implores us now for bare life. You
see her lying in the dust asking of you nothing more
than leave to rest — a petition which Dzengis Khan's
executioners would have granted her. That is all
she asks, but we demand more. The destiny of
Transylvania is in your hands, but its honour is
ours also ; ye are summoned to decide whether our
children are to be happy or miserable. But speak
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186 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
freely to us and say if you wish them to be honour-
able men or cowards. And I ask you which of us
women would care to bear the name of a Kornis, a
Csaky, or an Apafi, if posterity shall say of the bearers
of these names that they surrendered an innocent
woman to her heathen pursuers and constrained their
own sons thereby to renounce the names of their
fathers? Look not so darkly upon me, Master
Michael Teleki, for my soul is dark enough without
that An unhappy woman is on her knees before
you, hoping that she will find you to be men. The
women of Transylvania stand before you, hoping to
find you patriots. We beg you to have compassion
for the sake of the honour of our children."
Teleki, upon whom the eyes of the Princess had
flashed fiercely during the speech, as if accepting the
challenge, answered in a cold, stony voice :
"Here, madam, we dispense justice only, not
mercy or honour."
" Justice !" exclaimed Anna. "What! If a hus-
band has offended, is his innocent wife, whose only
fault is that she loves the fugitive, is she, I say, to
suffer punishment in his stead ? Where is the justice
of that?"
" Justice is often another name for necessity."
" Then who are all ye whom I see here ? Are ye
the chief men of Transylvania or Turkish slaves?
This is what I ask, and what we should all of us
very much like to know : is this the council chamber
of the free and constitutional state of Transylvania,
or is it the ante-chamber of Olaj Beg ? "
The gentlemen present preserved a deep silence.
This was a question to which they could not give a
direct answer.
" I demand an answer to my question," cried Dame
Apafi in a loud voice.
" And what good will the answer do you, my lady ? "
inquired Teleki, pressing his index-finger to his lips.
" I shall at any rate know whether the place in
which we now stand is worthy of us."
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THE WOMEN'S DEFENCE. 187
"It is not worthy, my lady. The present is no
time for the Magyars to be proud that they dwell in
Transylvania ; we are ashamed to be the responsible
ministers of a down-trodden, deserted, and captive
natioa This your Highness ought to know as well
as any of us, for it was a Turkish Pasha who placed
your husband on the Prince's seat And, assuredly,
it would be a far less grief to us to lose our heads
than to bend them humbly beneath the derisive
honour of being the leaders of a people lying
among ruins. But, at the most, history will only
be able to say of us that we humbly bowed before
necessity, that we bore the yoke of the stranger with-
out dignity, that running counter to the feelings of
our hearts and the persuasions of our minds, we
covered our faces with shame, and yet that that very
shame and dishonour saved the life of Transylvania,
and that poor spot of earth which remained in our
hands saved the whole country from a bloody perse-
cutioa We are the victims of the times, madam ;
help us to conceal the blush of shame and share
it with us. There, you have the answer to your
question."
Dame Apafi grew as pale as death, her head
drooped, and she clasped her hands together.
"So we have come to this at last? Formerly
valour was the national virtue, now it is cowardice.
What is our own fate likely to be if we reject this
poor woman? What has happened to-day to a
Princess Ghyka might easily happen to the wives of
Kornis and Csaky and B61di to-morrow. For their
husbands' faults they may be carried away captive,
brought to the block, if only God does not have
mercy upon them, for you yourselves say that this
would be right Why do you look at us? You,
B£ldi, Kornis, Teleki, Csaky, Bethlen, here stand
your wives and daughters. Draw forth your coward
swords, and if you dare not slay men, at least slay
women ; kill them before it occurs to the Turkish
Padishah to drag them by the hair into his harem."
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As Dame Apafi mentioned the names of the men
one after another, their wives and daughters, loudly
weeping, rushed towards them, and hiding their heads
in their bosoms, with passionate sobs, begged for the
unfortunate Princess, and behold the eyes of the men
also filled with tears, and nothing could be heard in
the room but the sobbing of the husbands mingled
with the sobbing of their wives.
On Teleki's breast also hung the gentle Judith
Vcir and his own daughter Flora, and the great
stony-hearted counsellor stood trembling between
them ; and although his cast-iron features assumed
with an effort a rigorous expression, nevertheless a
couple of unrcstrainable tears suddenly trickled down
the furrows of his face.
The Prince turned aside on his throne, and cover-
ing his face, murmured : " No more, Anna 1 No
more ! n
u Oh, Apafi I " cried the Princess bitterly ; "if perish
I must it shall not be by your hand. Anna Borne-
missza has strength enough to meet death if there be
no choice between that and shame. Be content, if
Olaj Beg demands my death, I shall at least be
spared the unpleasantness of falling at your feet in
supplication. And now, pronounce your decision,
but remember that every word you say will resound
throughout the Christian world."
Teleki dried the tears from his face, made his wife
and daughter withdraw, and said in a voice tremulous
with emotion :
" In vain should I deny it, my tears reveal that I
have a feeling heart. I am a man, I am a father, and
a husband. If I were nothing but Michael Teleki, I
should knoW how to sacrifice myself on behalf of
persecuted innocence ; and if my colleagues around
me were only companions-in-arms, I should say to
them, gird on your swords, lie in wait, rush upon the
Turkish escort of the Princess, and deliver her out of
their hands — if we perish, a blessing will be upon
us. But in this place, in these chairs, it is not our-
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THE WOMEN'S DEFENCE. 189
selves who feel and speak. The life, the death of
all Transylvania depends upon us. And my last
word is that we incontinently deliver up Mariska
Sturdza to the ambassador of the Forte. If my
colleagues decide otherwise, I will agree to it, I will
take my share of the responsibility, but I shall have
saved my soul anyhow. Speak, gentlemen, and if
you like, vote against me."
The silence of death ensued, nobody spoke a word.
" What, nobody speaks? 1 ' cried Dame Apafi in
amazement " Nobody ! Ah ! let us leave this place !
There is not a man in the whole principality."
And with these words the lady withdrew from
the council chamber. Her attendants followed her
sorrowfully, one by one, tearfully bidding adieu to
the unfortunate Princess. Aranka B£ldi was the
last to part from her. During the whole of this
mournful scene her eyes had remained tearless, but
she had knelt down the whole time by Mariska's side,
holding her closely embraced, and assuring her that
God would deliver her, she must fear nothing.
When all the ladies had withdrawn, and Dame
B41di beckoned her daughter to follow her, she
tenderly kissed the face of her friend and whispered
in her ear : " I have still hope, fear not, we will save
you ! " and smiling at her with her bright blue eyes
like an angel of consolation, got up and withdrew.
The Princess, tearless, speechless, then allowed
herself to be conducted away by the officers of the
council chamber.
The men remained sitting upon their chairs, down-
cast and sorrowful. Every bosom was oppressed,
and every heart was empty, and the thought of their
delivered fatherland was a cold consolation for the
grief they felt that the Government of Transylvania
should fling an inriocent woman back into the throat
of the monster which was pursuing her.
The silence still continued when, suddenly, the
door was violently burst open, and shoving aside
the guards right and left, Yffim Beg entered the
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room. He had been sent by Hassan Pasha to levy
contributions on the Prince and the people.
The rough Turkish captain looked round with
boorish pride upon the silent gentlemen, who were
still depressed by the preceding incident, and per-
ceiving that here he had to do with the humble,
without so much as bowing, he strode straight up to
the Prince, and placing one foot on the footstool
before the throne, and throwing his head haughtily
back, flung these words at him :
" In the name of my master, the mighty Hassan
Pasha, I put this question to thee, thou Prince of the
Giaurs, why hast thou kept back for so long the
tribute which is due to the Porte ? Who hath caused
the delay — thou, or the farmers of the taxes, or the
tax-paying people? Answer me directly, and take
care that thou liest not 1 "
The Prince looked around with wrinkled brows as
if looking for something to fling at the head of the
fellow. He regretted that the inkstand was so far
off.
But Teleki handed a sheet of parchment to
Sirpataky, the clerk of the council.
M Read our answer to the Pasha's letter," said he ;
44 as for you — sir I will not call you — listen to what
is written therein. 'Beneficent Hassan Pasha, we
greatly regret that you bother yourself about things
which are already settled. We do not ask you why
you came so late to the battle of St Gothard. Why
do you ask us, then, why we are so late with the
taxes ? We will answer for ourselves at the proper
time and place. Till then, Heaven bless you, and
grant that misfortune overwhelm you not just when
you would ruin others.' When you have written all
that down, hand it to his Highness the Prince for
signature."
The gentlemen present had fallen from one
surprise into another. Michael Teleki, who a mo-
ment before, against the inclinations of his own
heart and mind, had tried to compel the land to
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THE WOMEN'S DEFENCE. 191
submit to the demand of Olaj Beg, could in the
next moment send such a message to the powerful
Vizier of Buda.
But Teleki knew very well that the storm which
was passing over the country on account of the
Princess of Moldavia was sure to rebound on the
head of the Vizier of Buda. The Sultan was
seeking for an object on which to wreak his wrath
because of the lost battle, and if the Pasha of Buda
did not succeed in making the Government of
Transylvania the victim, he would fall a victim
himself.
As for Yffim Beg, he did not quite know whether a
thunder-bolt had plunged down close beside him, or
whether he was dreaming. There he stood like a
statue, unable to utter a word, and only looked on
stupidly while the letter was being written before his
very eyes, while Apafi's pen scraped the parchment
as he subscribed his signature, while they poured the
sand over it, folded it up, impressed it with an
enormous seal, and thrust it into his palm.
Only then did he emerge somewhat from his
stupor.
"Do ye think I am mad enough to carry this
letter back with me to Buda ? "
And with these words he seized the letter at
both ends, tore it in two, and flung it beneath the
table.
44 Write another!" said he, "write it nicely, for my
master, the mighty Hassan Pasha, will strangle the
whole lot of you."
Teleki turned coldly towards him.
14 If you don't like the letter, worthy mtiderris, you
may go back without any letter at all."
" I am no miiderris, but Yffim Beg. I would have
thee know that, thou dog ; and I won't go without a
letter, and I won't let you all go till ye have written
another."
And with these words he sat down on the steps of
the Prince's throne and crossed his legs, so that two
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192 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH,
were sitting on the throne at the same time, the Beg
and ApafL
"Guards!" cried Apafi in a commanding voice,
" seize this shameless fellow, tie him on to a horse's
back and drive him out of the towa"
They needed not another word. One of the guards
immediately rushed forward to where Yffim Beg was
still sitting on a footstool with legs crossed, and took
him under the arm, while another of them grasped
him firmly by the collar, and raising him thus in the
air, kicking and struggling, carried him out of the room
in a moment The Beg struck, bit, and scratched, but
it was all of no avail. The merciless drabants set
him on the back of a horse in the courtyard, without
a saddle, tied his feet together beneath the horse's
belly, placed the bridle of the steed in the hands of
a stable-boy, while another stable-boy stood behind
with a good stout whip; and so liberally did they
interpret the commands of the chief counsellor, that
they escorted the worthy gentleman, not only out of
the town, but beyond the borders of the realm.
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CHAPTER XVI.
A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD.
At Buda, while Hassan Pasha was fighting with
the army of the German Emperor, Yffim Beg was
preparing the triumphal arches through which the
victors were to pass on their return, adorning them
with green branches and precious carpets, and leaving
room for the standards to be captured from the
Germans and Hungarians. The bridge was also re-
paired and strengthened to support the weight of the
heavy gun-carriages and cannon which Montecuculi
was to have abandoned, and at the same time a large
space on the R£k£s was railed in where all the slaves
of all the nations, including women and children,
were to be impounded.
And after all these amiable preparations the terrible
message reached the worthy Yffim Beg from Hassan
Pasha that he was to place all his movable chattels,
gold and silver, on a fugitive footing, barricade the
fortress, cut away the bridge so that the enemy
might not be able to cross it, and follow him with
the whole harem, beyond the Raab, for who could
tell whether they would ever see the fortress of Buda
again.
Yffim Beg was not particularly pleased with this
message, but without taking long to think about it,
he put the damsels of the harem into carriages, sent
them off along the covered way adjoining the water-
gate, in order to make as little disturbance as possible,
and, as soon as they were on the other side of the
bridge, ordered it to be destroyed and the garrison
M
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194 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
of the fortress to defend themselves as best they
could.
He reached the Turkish army to find the opposing
hosts drawn up against each other on different sides
of the river, across which they bombarded each other
from time to time, without doing much damage.
The Pasha's pavilion was well in the rear, out of
cannon-shot ; he was delighted when he saw Yffim
Beg, and could not take his fill of kissing Azrael,
who was lovelier and more gracious than ever.
" Remain here," he said to his favourites, embracing
the pair of them. "I must retire now to the interior
of my pavilion to pray for an hour or so with the
dervishes, for a great and grievous duty will devolve
upon me in an hour's time — two great Turkish nobles,
Kucsuk Pasha and his son, are to be condemned to
death."
Azrael started as violently as if a serpent had crept
into her bosom.
14 How have they offended?" she asked, scarce
able to conceal her agitation.
"Against the precepts of the Prophet they en-
gaged in battle on a day of ill-omen ; they have
cast dirt on the victorious half-moon, and must wash
off the stain with their blood."
Hassan withdrew; Azrael remained alone in the
tent with the Beg.
" I saw thee shudder," said Yffim, fixing his sharp
eyes on the face of AzraeL
" Death chooses the thirteenth ; he leaped past me
at this vfery moment."
" And on whom has the fatal thirteen fallen ? "
"On someone who stands beside me or behind
me."
"Behind thee in the tent outside is Feriz Beg."
" But thou art beside me."
" I am too young to die yet"
"And is not he also?"
"He of whom Hassan saith: 'He hath sinned!'
becomes old and withered on the spot"
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A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD. 19s
w And hast thou done nothing for which thou
shouldst die ? "
" My beard will grow white because of my loyalty ;
life is long in the shadow of Hassan/'
" But how long will Hassan have a shadow ? *
" Till his night cometh— but that is still far off"
" Hast thou not heard of the case of Ajas Pasha,
Yffim?— of Ajas, who was the mightiest of ^11 the
Pashas?"
" He was the Sultan's son-in-law."
M The Grand Seignior gave him his own daughter to
wife, and loaded him with every favour. One day
Ajas lost a battle against the Zrinyis. It was not a
great defeat, but the Sultan was wrath and beheaded
Ajas Pasha."
" H'm I I recollect, it was a sad story."
M And dost thou remember the story of the faithful
Hiassar ? Ajas charged him to bring to him before
his death his favourite wife, not his whole harem
which thou hast brought to Hassan Pasha, but only
his favourite wife, that he might take leave of her ;
and dost thou know that for doing this thing the
Sultan had Hiassar roasted to death in a copper ox?
For a disgraced favourite possesses nothing — all he
had is the Sultan's, his treasures, his wives and his
children; and whoever lays his hand upon them is
robbing the Sultaa Who knows, Yffim Beg, but
what at this moment I may not be the Sultan's
slave-girl ? and from slave-girl to favourite is but a
step, and thou knowest it would be but a short step
for me."
" What accursed things thou art saying."
" The wife of Ajas Beg was the Sultan's favourite
at the time when Haissar was burnt, and a word
from her would have saved him. But she said it not,
because she was wrath with him; methinks the
woman loved him once, and the slave despised her
love. Give me my mandoline, Yffim, I would sing a
song."
The odalisk lay back upon the bed, while Yffim
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anxiously paced to and fro like a hyena fallen into a
snare. The story just related had a striking resem-
blance to his own, and it would not take very much
to give it a similar termination.
Suddenly he stood before the damsel, who non-
chalantly strummed the strings of her instrument
* What dost thou want ? "
" Ask not what thou knowest"
* Thou wouldst save Feriz ? "
u I will save him."
* I sware by Allah it is not to be done. Die he
must, if only to tame thee ; for if he remain alive
thou wilt destroy the lot of us sooner or later."
Azrael collapsed at the feet of the Beg. Sobbing,
she embraced his knees.
u Oh, be merciful ! Say but a word for him to the
general. I love the youth as thou canst see and dost
very well know. Do not let him perish I "
Like all little souls, Yffim Beg became all the
bolder at these supplicating words, and seizing
Azrael by the arms, roughly pulled her to her feet,
and whispered in her hear with malicious joy :
u I'll make thee a present of his head"
At these words the woman raised her head, her
eyes like those of a furious she-wolf seemed to glow
with green fire, her tresses curled like serpents round
her bosom. She said not a word, but her tightly
clenched teeth kept back a whole hell of dumb fury.
At that moment the Vizier returned.
Azrael at once put on a smile. Hassan could not
see what was seething in her heart.
Yffim approached the Pasha confidentially.
" Does the Sultan know of thy disaster?"
u He has heard it since."
" It would be as well to send me with gifts to the
Porte."
"Ask not that honour for thyself, Yffim; learn,
rather, that whomsoever I send to Stambul now is as
good as sent to Paradise. The Sultan's wrath is
kindled, and he can only quench it with blood."
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A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD. 197
All the blood quitted Yffim's own face.
"Then thou hast thy fears, my master?"
" His rage demands blood, and the blood of a great
man, too. Which of us ? That is all one, but a great
man must die. If I cannot sacrifice someone in my
place I shall perish myself, but there are men of
equal value to myself from whom I can choose.
There are two especially — Kucsqk and his son. They
began the battle ; if they had not begun it, there
would have been no battle ; and if there had been no
battle, there would have been no disaster. They are
Death's sons already. The third is the Prince of
Moldavia. He was the first to fly from the fight ; he
had a secret understanding with the Christians. He
is a son of Death also. I can throw in the Prince of
Transylvania also, because he kept away from the
battle altogether and was late with his tribute. Had
he sent it sooner, we should have had money ; and if
we had had money, we should have been able to have
bought hay; and if we had had hay the soldiers
would not have hastened on the battle and so lost it
He also is a son of Death, therefore. Go thou into
Transylvania and bring him hither to me."
Azrael listened to all this with great attention.
Yffim Beg regarded her with a radiant countenance, as
much as to say : " You see our heads won't ache yet ! "
The odalisk, however, trembled no longer; she
pressed her lips tightly together, and as if she was
quite certain of what she was about to do, she pressed
her sweetly smiling face close to that of the Vizier,
and hanging on his arms, whispered to him :
" O Hassan, how my soul would rejoice if I could
see flow the blood of thine enemies."
Hassan sat the damsel on his knees, and his lips
sported with her twining tresses.
Yffim Beg was in such a mighty good humour at
being commissioned by Hassan to go as ambassador
to the Prince of Transylvania, and so blindly exalted
by such a mark of confidence, that he fancied he
could well afford to torment Azrael a little.
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198 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
"Whilst thou wert away, my master," said he, "thy
damsel implored me to grant her a favour, which I
dare not do without first asking thy permission. 1 '
Azrael regarded the smiling Beg with sparkling
eyes, anxiously awaiting what he would be bold
enough to betray.
"What was it? — speak, Yffim Beg," remarked
Hassan wildly.
" Thou and the other Pashas are about to condemn
a youth to death — young Feriz Beg, I mean*
"Well?" said Hassan frowning, while the odalisk
whom he held embraced trembled all over.
" Azrael would like to see the young man die."
The girl grew pale at these words ; her heart for a
moment ceased to beat, and then began fiercely to
throb again.
" A foolish wish," said Hassan ; " but if thou desire
it, be it so ! Be present at the meeting of the Pashas,
stand behind the curtains by my side, and thou shalt
hear and see everything."
Azrael imprinted a long and burning kiss on
Hassan's forehead with a face full of death, and stood
behind the curtain holding the folds together with
her hands.
"If thou shouldst faint." whispered Yffim Beg
sarcastically, "thou shalt have a vessel of musk
from me."
Azrael laughed so loudly that Yffim fancied she
must have gone mad.
" And now call the Pashas and draw the curtain of
the tent," commanded Hassan.
At the invitation of Yffim all the officers of the
camp came to the pavilion and took their seats in a
circle on cushions. Last of all came the Grand
Vizier, Kiuprile, a big, stout, angry man, who, without
looking at anyone, sat down on the cushion beside
Hassan and turned his back upon him.
Then the roll of drums was heard, and Kucsuk
Pasha and Feriz Beg, well guarded, were brought in
from different sides — Kucsuk on the left hand, and
Feriz on the right
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A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD. 199
" Look ! " whispered Azrael to Hassan from behind
the curtain ; " look how proud they are, the son on
the right, the father on the left. They seem to be
encouraging each other with their glances."
Hassan nodded his head as if thanking his favourite
for assisting his weak eyes, and as both figures came
within the obscurity of the tent, where the light was
not very good at the best of times, acting on the hint
given, he turned towards the aged Kucsuk Pasha and
cried:
M Thou immature youth, step back till I speak to
thee."
Then, turning to young Feriz Beg, he said :
" Step forward, thou hardened old traitor ! Where-
fore didst thou leave the armies of the Sublime Sultan
in the lurch?"
Feriz Beg, as if a weapon against his persecutors
had suddenly been put into his hand, stepped boldly
right up to Hassan Pasha, and exclaimed in a bold
voice, which rang though the tent :
" Thou art the traitor, not I ; for thou darest to
hold the office of general when thou art blind and
canst not distinguish two paces off father from son, or
an enemy from a friend."
Hassan sprang in terror from his carpet when he
heard Kucsuk's son speak instead of Kucsuk.
* That is not true," he stammered, changing colour.
"Not true!" replied Feriz stiffly; " then, if thine
eyes be good, wilt thou tell me what regiment is now
passing thy tent with martial music?"
The tent be it understood was open towards the
plain overlooking the whole camp and the river
beyond.
A military band was just then crossing the ground
not far from the tent, quite alone ; no regiment was
coming after it.
" Methinks, thou mutinous dog, 'tis no answer to my
question to inquire what regiment is now passing by,
for it maybe that I know better than thou why it has
arrived ; nor is it part of my duty to mention the
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200 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
rabble by name ; suffice it that I hear the trumpets
and see the banners."
The Pashas looked at each other; there was
neither regiment nor banners.
" So that's it, eh ? " said Kiuprile, spitting in front of
him ; and with that he rose from his place, and,
without looking at Hassan, took Kucsuk and Feriz
by the arm. " Come ! " said he to the other generals
— " you can go now I " he cried to the guards, and the
whole assembly withdrew from the tent
Hassan fell back on his carpet He himself had
betrayed his great defect
Azrael rushed from her hiding-place.
" Oh, my master I " she cried ; " thou didst wrongly
interpret my words, and so made everything go
wrong."
" 1 am lost," he stammered, and quite beside him-
self he plunged into the interior of the tent to pray
with the dervishes.
Yffim Beg stood there as if his soul had been
filched from him ; while Azrael approached him with
a smile of devilish scorn and stroked his face down
with her hand.
" Dost thou fancy thou wilt require another good
word for thee ? "
M I can betray thee."
" Thou couldst if thou didst but know which of the
two is to live longest — Hassan or I."
Two hours after this scene there was a private
conversation between Hassan Pasha and Yffim Beg,
from which even Azrael was excluded. The
interview over, Yffim Beg departed quickly from the
camp. The general had sent him to Transylvania to
go in his name from village to village to make a
general inspection, and ask the magistrates why the
common folks did not pay the taxes at the proper
time. He was thence to go to the Prince and ask
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A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD. aoi
the cause of this delay in the transmission of taxes ;
thus either the people or the Prince would be held
responsible. Hassan for a long time had had a
scheme in his head of seizing Transylvania by force of
arms, whereby, on the one hand, he would win the
favour of the Porte, by adding a new subject state to
Turkish territory, and, on the other hand, would
secure for himself a good easy princely chair instead
of a dangerously-jolting general's saddle.
At the same time Olaj Beg was worrying Apafi to
seize the escaped Princess of Moldavia and send her
to Hassan Pasha, who was well aware that the
silken cord would be constantly dangling before his
eyes till he had found someone else whose neck he
could jeopardise instead of his own.
Kucsuk and his son had escaped from his talons,
but he had just heard from Olaj Beg that the
Moldavian Princess was with Apafi, and in an
interesting condition, so that there was every prospect
of a young Prince being born. Here, then, in case
of necessity, was a person who could be handed over,
and in case she escaped, the silken cord would
remain round Apafi's neck.
A few days after the departure of Yffim Beg, peace
was hastily concluded between the Porte and the
King of the Romans. In consequence thereof Hassan
avoided a collision with the other generals, and,
quitting them, hastened back to Buda with his army.
Kiuprilc marched right off to Belgrade, Kucsuk was
dispatched to the fortress of Szekelyhid ; only Feriz
* remained at Buda, for the simple reason that he was
confined to his bed by a feverish cold in a kiosk,
which was erected for him by the express command
of Kiuprile.
Just about this time Azrael had an excess of
devotion, and was constantly plagued by terrifying
dreams in which she saw Hassan Pasha walking up
and down without his head, and every morning she
got leave from him to pay a visit to an old dervish to
pray against the apparition of evil spirits. Hassan
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202 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
was much affected by this devotion towards him
and true Mussulman fervour, and made no opposition
to his favourite damsel going every morning to the
mosque to pray, and only returning from thence late
every evening; but he impressed it upon her
suite to keep a watchful eye upon the girl lest she
should deceive them. They therefore permitted
pious Azrael to visit the worthy dervish so wrapped
up that only her eyes were visible, and soon
afterwards saw her return with the gracious old man.
The dervish had a white beard and white eyebrows,
as if he were well frosted ; his eyes were cast down,
and he wore such a frightfully big turban that not
even the tips of his ears were visible. He was also
not very lavish of speech, dumbly he pointed out to
the veiled damsel the great clasped book and
she knelt down before it and began to read with
edifying devotion, touching it from time to time with
her forehead ; while the dervish, raising his hand,
blessed one by one the slaves standing outside the
door, and, after indicating by dumb show that he
must now go to the kiosk where the sick Feriz Beg
was lying and cure him by the efficacy of his
prayers, he hobbled away.
Ail four slaves glued their faces to the iron lattice
work of the door, thrust their cheeks between its
ornaments, and saw how the kneeling damsel kept
praying all the time before the large open book. She
must have had an unconscionable fondness for prayer,
for even when the evening grew late she had not
moved from the spot till the dervish, leaning on his
crutch, came hobbling back from Feriz Beg. Then
she accompanied him into the interior of the mosque,
and after a short hymn, returned to make her way
back to the fortress.
And thus it went on for ten days. The slaves of
her escort now began to think that Azrael wanted to
learn the Koran by heart and grew tired of watching
her praying and bowing and genuflecting with
unwearied devotion.
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A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD. 203
Let us leave them gazing and marvelling, and seek
out Feriz Beg, whom now, as at other times, the old
dervish was tending.
There sat the good old man by the bedside of the
pale and handsome youth. Nobody else was in the
room. With his hand he dried the dripping sweat
from the youth's forehead, every hour he put red
healing drops into his mouth with a golden spoon, he
guessed what was wanted immediately from every
sigh, from every groan of the invalid. When he slept
he fanned fresh air upon him, when he woke and
stretched forth his burning hands, he felt the
throbbing pulse and comforted and soothed him with
gentle and consolatory words ; and if he flung about
impatiently in the fever of delirium, he covered him
up carefully, like a tender mother, moistened his lips
with fresh citron-water ; and if he perceived from his
flushed face how he was suffering he would raise his
head, and press his burning temples to his bosom.
On the tenth day the youth's illness took a turn for
the better. Early in the morning, when he awoke,
he had a clear consciousness of his condition.
There by the side of his bed still sat the old man
with his eyes fixed on the youth's face.
" So thou hast been my nurse, eh ? " sighed the
youth gratefully, and he extended his hand to take
that of the dervish, and he respectfully impressed
upon it a long burning kiss, closing his eyes piously
as he did so.
And when he again opened his eyes, holding
continually the kissed hand between his own hands,
behold ! by his bedside no longer sat the old dervish,
but a young and tremulous damsel, with black tresses
rolling down her shoulders, with a blushing face and
timidly smiling lips — it was Azrael.
Feriz fancied that he was the sport of some
delirious dream or enchantment, and only when he
looked about him in his bewilderment and perceived
the cast-off false beard and turban and the other lying
symbols of age, did he regain his presence of mind ;
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2o 4 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
and immediately the expression of gratitude and
devotion disappeared from the face of Feriz Beg, his
features took in a rigorous expression and he with-
drew his hand from the pressure of those other hands.
Speak he could not, both mind and body were too
much broken for that; but he pointed to the door
and signified to the damsel in dumb show that she
was to withdraw.
" Thou knowest me, for thou hatest me," stammered
Azrael ; " if thou didst not know me thou wouldst
not hate me, and if thou didst know me better thou
wouldst love me."
The youth shook his head.
* Then — thou — lovest — another ? " said the
trembling girl.
Feriz Beg nodded : yes.
Azrael rose from her place as if some venomous
spider had bitten her, her face was convulsed by a
burning grief, she pressed her hands to her bosom ;
then slowly her form lost all its proud rigidity, and
her eyes their savage brightness, her features
softened, and collapsing before the bed of the youth
she hid her face in his pillows and murmured in a
scarce audible voice : " And therefore I love thee all
the more."
Then, resuming her disguise, she calmly piled upon
herself all the tokens of old age till once more before
the sick man stood the gentle honest dervish who
hobbled away on his crutches, blessing everyone he
encountered till he returned again to the mosque.
After Azrael had withdrawn, Feriz at once dismissed
the dervish, who, at the youth's command, confessed
everything to him. The general's favourite damsel,
he said, had come to the mosque to pray ten days
ago and had changed garments with him in his
hiding-place in order to tend the dear invalid all day
long while the dervish, enwrapped in her veil, had
prayed in the sight of the slaves.
Feriz Beg threatened the dervish with death if he
did not confess everything, and, as it became a true
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A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD. 205
cavalier, richly rewarded him when he had revealed
the secret intrigue, forbidding him at the same time
to assist it any further.
Several days had passed by.
Hassan Pasha spent his days in the mosque, and
his nights behind the trellised gates of his harem ; he
scented an evil report in every new arrival, and
avoided all intercourse with his fellows. The whole
day he was praying, the whole night he was drunk ;
from morning to evening he was occupied with the
priests and the Koran, and from the evening to the
morning he amused himself among his damsels,
listened to their songs, bathed in ambergris- water,
drank wine mingled with poppies, and had his body
rubbed with cotton-wool that he might sleep and be
in paradise.
Frequently he had bad dreams, an evil foreboding,
like the pressure of a night-hag, lay upon his heart,
and when he awoke he seemed to see it all vividly
before his eyes and durst not sleep any more, but
dressed himself, sought out the room of Azrael and
made the damsel sit down beside him and amuse him
with merry stories.
The odalisk held unlimited sway over the mind of
Hassan, and could, at will, tune his mind to a good
or evil humour by anticipating his thoughts. The
Pasha trusted her implicitly.
It is a bad old custom with oriental potentates to
go to bed fuddled and dream all manner of nonsense,
and then incontinently to demand a clear interpreta-
tion of the nebulous stuff from their wise men — or
wise women.
This happened to be the case one morning with
Hassan Pasha and Azrael who just then was watering
with a silver watering-can a gorgeous gobaea, whose
luxurious offshoots clambered like a living ladder to
the roof of the greenhouse, thence casting down to the
ground again tendrils as thick as ropes.
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" Last night I was dreaming of this very plant that
thou dost nourish in yon large tub/' said Hassan in a
voice that sounded as if he thought it an extraordinary
thing to be listening to his own words. " I dreamt
that it put forth a long and flowery shoot which grew
into a tall tree, and from the end of one of the
branches of this tree hung a large yellow fruit Then
I thought I had some important and peculiar reason
for breaking off the fruit, and I sent a big white-
bearded ape up into the tree to fetch it The ape
reached the fruit, and for a long time plucked at it
and shook it, but was unable to break it off. At last,
however, he fell down with it at my feet, the golden
fruit burst in two, and a red apple rolled out of it, and
I picked them both up and was delighted. What
does that signify ? "
Azrael kept plucking the yellow leaves off her
dear plant and throwing them through the window,
beckoned to the Pasha to sit down beside her, and
tapping him on the shoulder, began to tick off the
events on her pretty fingers.
" The golden fruit is the Moldavian Princess, and
the white ape thou didst send for her is none other
than Olaj Beg. Thy dream signifies that the Beg is
about to arrive with the Princess, who in the meantime
has borne a son, and thou wilt rejoice greatly."
Hassan was well content with this interpretation,
when a eunuch entered and brought him a sealed
letter on a golden salver. It was from the Pasha of
Grosswardein.
The letter was anything but pleasant. AH Pasha
begged to inform the Vizier that the Government of
Transylvania, having delivered Mariska Sturdza into
the hands of Olaj Beg, the Beg at once set off with
her, and had got as far as Kir&lyh&g6, when some
persons hidden in the forest had suddenly rushed out
upon him, massacred his suite to the last man, and left
the Princess' carriage empty on the high road. The
Princess had in all probabilty been helped to rejoin
her husband in Poland.
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A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD. 207
The letter fell from the hand of Hassan Pasha.
"Thou hast interpreted my dream backwards," he
roared, turning upon Azrael ; " everything has turned
topsy-turvy. The ape descended from the tree with
the fruit, but knocked his brains out"
At that moment the door-keeper announced : " Olaj
Beg has arrived with the Moldavian Princess/ 1
At these words Hassan Pasha, in the joy of his
heart, leaped from his cushions, and after kissing
Azrael over and over again, rushed forward to meet
Olaj Beg, and meeting him in the doorway, caught
him round the neck and exclaimed, beside himself
with joy :
"Then my ape has not knocked his brains out,
after all!"
Olaj Beg smilingly endured the title and the
embrace, but on looking around and perceiving
Azrael standing in the window he began doing
obeisance to her with the greatest respect
"Hast thou brought her? Where is she? Thou
hast not lost her, eh ? Thou hast well looked after
her?" asked Hassan in one breath.
By this time Olaj Beg had bowed his head down to
his very knees before the damsel, and was saying to
her in a mollified voice :
" May I hope that the beautiful Princess will not
find it tiresome if we talk of grave affairs in her
presence ? "
Azrael at once perceived the object of all this
bowing and scraping. Olaj Beg wished her to
withdraw.
m Thou mayest speak before me, worthy Olaj Beg,
though what thou art about to say is no secret to me,
for I can read the future, and my secrets I tell to
none"
And now Hassan intervened.
14 Thou mayest speak freely before her, worthy Olaj
Beg. Azrael is the root of my life."
Olaj Beg made another deep and long obeisance.
He had heard enough of that name to need no
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208 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
further recommendation. He made up his mind on
the spot to tell Hassan, who was in the power of
this infernal woman, no more than he deserved to
know.
"Then thou hast brought the Princess with thee?"
insisted Hassan, whose joy beamed upon his face in
spite of himself. " Did the Transylvanian gentlemen
make much difficulty in handing her over ? "
" They handed her over, but it would have been
very much better if they had not I should have
preferred it if they had risen in her behalf, stirred up
all Klausenberg against me and beaten me to death.
At any rate, I should then have died gloriously.
But alas I the Magyar race is degenerating, it has
begun to be sensible. Those good old times have
gone when they used to fire a whole village for the
sake of a runaway female slave ; and it was possible
to seize a whole county in exchange for one burnt
village ; if the Hungarian gentry continue to be as
wise as they are now the younger generation of them
may strike root in our very Empire."
" I was alarmed on thy account, for I have just
received a letter from the Pasha of Grosswardein, in
which he informed me that certain persons had
attacked the Princess's escort at Kir£lyhdg6 and
cut them down to a man."
" I anticipated that," replied Olaj Beg slily. " When
with much shedding of tears they handed the Princess
over to me, I heard them whisper in her ear : c Fear
nothing ! ' and I well understood from that that those
same gentlemen who in the council chamber, with
wise precautions, resolved to deliver up the fugitive
Princess, had agreed among themselves over their
cups at dinner-time that as I left Transylvania they
would lie in wait for, fall upon me, and liberate and
take away with them the Princess whom, by the way,
they did not deliver over immediately, giving out
that she was sick and suffering torments. While I
was awaiting her recovery, nobody but her ladies was
allowed admittance to her, and as soon as she was on
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A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD. 209
her legs again, I made all my preparations for the
journey next day, marshalling all the carriages and
baggage-wagons in the courtyard. I myself, how-
ever, got into a sorry matted coveyance with the
Princess and her child, and set off the same night in
the direction of D£va. My suite, with the empty
carriages, was to follow next morning in the direction
of Grosswardein. The masked men cut them down
as arranged, but the Princess and her son were in safe
hands all the time. Olaj Beg is an old fox, and a
fox knows his way about"
Hassan Pasha rubbed his hands delightedly.
" Nevertheless," continued Olaj Beg, *' imagine not,
my good general, that because this woman is now in
thy hands thou wilt be able to keep her. Sleepless-
ness will enter thy house as soon as thou hast
admitted her within thy doors. If it be hard to guard
any woman, it will be particularly hard to guard this
one. The men and women of a whole kingdom have
sworn to set her free by force or fraud, and will use
every effort to do so. They will open thy bedroom
doors with skeleton keys, they will dig beneath thy
cellars, they will strew sleeping powder in thy evening
potions, they will corrupt thy most faithful servants,
and if no other poison make any impression upon thee
they will pour into thy heart the most potent of all
poisons, the tears of a supplicating woman. I have
brought the treasure, and I deliver it into thy hands.
Allah requites me for my pains by taking her from
me. Thou art now her guard, conceal her as best
thou canst. Thy greatest worry will be that thou
catist not slay her, for indeed she were best hidden
beneath the ground. But thou art to see to it that
she is delivered alive into the hands of the Sultan's
envoys, for shosldst thou kill her thyself be sure
thou wilt soon feel the silken cord around thine
own neck. Meanwhile, peace be with thee and to all
who abide in. the shadow of the Prophet ! "
With these words Olaj Beg stepped into the
adjoining room, and leading in the Princess, placed
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her hand in the hand of Hassan ; then he raised his
eyes to Heaven.
"Allah is my witness" said he, "that I have
delivered her and her child into thy hands ! "
In the first moment Hassan Pasha was amazed at
the woman's loveliness, and thought with regret that
it was necessary for his own safety that she must
die.
Olaj Beg, however, had yet another piece of good
advice to impart, and, with that object, drew nigh to
him to whisper in his ear ; but, as if his courage failed
him at the last moment, he delivered his sentiments
in the Arabic tongue.
"Thou wouldst guard this woman best if thou
tookest her child from her and locked it up separately.
The mother certainly would not escape without the
child:'
The Princess Ghyka did not understand these
words, but she saw how the old fox indicated her
little one with a glance and with what a greedy look
Hassan regarded it ; and she pressed the child all
the closer to her bosom as she saw him come a step
closer. The unhappy woman trembled when she
saw Hassan smile upon the child like a hungry wolf
would smile if he encountered it on his path. She
guessed from their play of feature the terrible idea
which the two men were discussing in a foreign
tongue, and in her despair cast her eyes upon Azrael,
as if hoping that she would find a response to her
agony in a woman's heart
The odalisk pretended she had not observed the
look, as if those present were not worthy of the
slightest attention from her ; when, however, Hassan
gratefully embraced the Beg for this fresh piece of
advice, Azrael intervened with a peculiar smile.
" Thou dost act like one who, bending beneath the
weight of a burden too heavy for him, would pass it
on to his neighbour."
Hassan looked at his favourite damsel inquiringly,
while Olaj Beg, who was unaccustomed to hear
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A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD. 211
women talk at all when men were holding counsel
together, looked back with offended surprise over his
shoulder.
Azrael reclined lazily back upon her cushions, and
swung one leg over her knee as she conversed with
the two men.
u Worthy Hassan/' said she, " thou wouldst make
two troubles out of one, if thou didst separate thy
captives ; while thou keepest thine eye on one of
them, they will steal away the other behind thy
back."
Hassan cast a troubled look upon Olaj Beg, who
stroked his long white beard and smiled.
" If thou dost permit thy damsels to ask questions,
thou must needs answer them," said he.
At these words Azrael leaped from her place and
boldly approached the two men, her flaming black
eyes measured the Beg from head to foot, and when
she spoke it was with a determined, startling voice.
" Listen to me, Hassan — yes, I say, thou shouldst
listen to me before all thy friends just because I am
a woman. A man can only give advice, but a
woman loves, and before a man thinks of danger a
woman already sees it coming from afar, and while a
man may grow into a crafty old fox, a woman is
born crafty. Hassan knows very well that of all
those who wear a mask of friendship for him, there
is but one on whom he can absolutely rely, whose
love all the treasures in India can as little destroy as
they can lull her hatred asleep, who watches over him
while he sleeps, and if she sleeps is dreaming of his
destiny — that person am I."
Hassan confirmed the words of the damsel by
throwing his arm round he* shoulders and drawing
her towards him.
"If this woman requires a sleepless, uncorruptible
guardian," continued Azrael, " I will be that guardian.
Make for us a long chain, and let one end of it be
fastened to my arm and the other to her girdle.
Thus the slave will be chained to the jailer, and,
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212 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
sleeping or waking, will be unable to escape from
me. I shall be a good janitor. I will not let her,
or her child, out of my hands."
The damsel accompanied these words with such an
infernal smile that Olaj Beg involuntarily edged
away from her; while Hassan was enchanted by
this noble specimen of loyalty. But Mariska's face
was bright and resigned again, for she understood
from the words of the odalisk, threatening as they
were, that she and her child were not to be separated,,
and to all else she was indifferent
Olaj Beg drew the folds of his caftan over his
lean, dry bosom, and after peering at the two women,
remarked to Hassan :
" Tis well thou canst trust a woman to look after
a woman."
With that he backed out of the room, blessing all
four corners of it as he went, and in the gateway
distributed with great condescension to every one of
the servants who had done anything for him some
money ingeniously twisted up in pieces of paper
(which, by the way, were found to contain a half-
penny each when at last unfolded), and sitting in his
mat-covered carriage, gave strict orders to the
coachman not to look back till he saw the citadel of
Buda.
But Hassan the same hour sent for his goldsmith,,
and bade him prepare immediately a silver chain,
four yards long, with golden shackles at each end,
for Azrael and Mariska. The goldsmith took the
measure of the hands of the two damsels, and
brought in the evening a chain made of beaten,
silver, whose shackles were fastened by masterly-
constructed padlocks, which Hassan himself fastened
on the hands of the damsels, thrusting the key which*
opened the padlocks into his girdle, which he tapped
a hundred times a day to discover whether it was
still there or not Then he dismissed the pair of
them into Azrael's dormitory. Mariska endured
everything — the chain, the shame, and rough words —
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A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD. 213
for the privilege of being able to embrace her child.
She lay down content on the carpets as far from
Azrael as the chain would permit it, and folding her
hands above the baby's innocent head, prayed with
burning devotion to the God of mercy, and calmly
went to sleep holding the child in her arms.
A little beyond midnight the child began softly
wailing. At the first sound of its crying Mariska
awoke, and as she moved her hand the chain rattled.
Azrael was instantly alert
"Hast thou had evil dreams?" inquired the
odalisk of Mariska; "the rattling of the chain
aroused me."
"The weeping of my child awoke me," said
Mariska softly; and drawing the little one to her
bosom, as it embraced its mother's beautiful velvet
breast with its chubby little finger, and drank from
the sweetest of all sources the draught of life, the
young mother gazed upon it with unspeakable joy,
smiled, laughed, caught the child's rosy little fingers
in her mouth, and implanted resounding kisses on
its rosy, chubby cheeks. She had no thought at that
moment for chain and dungeon.
Azrael felt in her heart the torments of the
demons — it was that jealousy which those who are
rocked in the lap of happiness feel at the sight of a
luckless wretch who is happier than they are in spite
of all his wretchedness.
"Wherefore dost thou rejoice?" she asked, gazing
upon the lady with the eyes of a serpent
" Because my child is with me."
" But the-whole world has abandoned thee."
44 It is more to me than the whole world."
" More than thy husband ? "
Mariska reflected for a moment, and then, instead
of replying, hugged the child still closer to her
bosom and imprinted a kiss upon its forehead.
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2i 4 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH
" Wert thou ever a mother ? " she asked Azrael in
her turn.
" Never/ 1 stammered the odalisk, and involuntarily
her bosom heaved beneath a sigh.
It was plain from the face of Mariska how much
she pitied this poor woman. Azrael perceived the
look, and it wounded her that she should be pitied.
" Dost thou not know that both of you must die ? "
she asked with a darkened countenance.
" I am ready."
" And art thou not terrified at the thought ? They
will strangle thy child with a silken cord, and hang it
dead upon thy breast, and then they will strangle
thee likewise, and put you both in the grave, in the
cold earth."
" We shall see each other in a better world," said
Mariska with fervent devotion.
" Where ? " inquired the astounded Azrael.
Mariska, with holy confidence, raised her little one
in her arms, and, lifting her eyes, said: "God will
take us unto Himself."
" And what need hath God of you ? "
" He is the Father of those who suffer, and in the
other world He rewards those who suffer grief here
below."
"And who told thee this?"
Mariska, as one inspired, placed her hand upon her
heart and said : " It is written here I "
Azrael regarded the woman abashed. Truly,
many mysterious words are written in the heart, why
cannot everyone read them ? She also had listened
to such mystic voices, but they were words shouted
in a desert, in her savage breast there was no manner
of love which could interpret their meaning.
Mariska again put down her child on the edge of
the cushion.
" Place not thy child there," cried Azrael impa-
tiently ; " it might easily fall, place it between us ! "
Mariska accepted the offer, and placed the little
one between herself and Azrael.
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A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD. 215
When the first ray of dawn penetrated the large
window Mariska awoke, and, folding her hands
together above the head of the little child, again
began to pray.
Azrael looked on darkly.
"Dost thou never pray?" said Mariska, turning
towards her.
* Why should women pray ? Their destiny is not
in their own hands. Their fate depends upon their
masters ; if their masters are happy, they are happy
also ; if their masters perish, they perish with them.
This is their earthly lot — and that is all. Allah
never gave them a soul — what have they to do with
the life beyond this? In Paradise the Houris take
their places and the Houris remain young for ever.
The breath of a woman vanishes with the autumn
mist like the fumes of a dead animal, and Allah has
no thought for them."
Mariska, with only half intelligible sorrow, looked
at this woman who wished to seem worse than she
really was.
Azrael crept closer up to her.
" And dost thou really believe that there is someone
who listens to what the worms say, to what the birds
twitter, and to what women pray ? "
° Certainly," replied the young Christian woman ;
"turn to Him, and thou wilt feel for thyself His
goodness."
w How can it be so ? Why should He pay any
attention to me ? "
" It is not enough I know to clasp thy hands and
close thy eyes. Thy petition must come straight
from thy heart, and thy soul must believe that it will
gain its desire."
Azrael's face flushed red. Hastily she cast herself
down on her knees on the carpet, and pressing her
folded hands to her bosom, stammered in a scarce
audible voice :
" God ! grant me one moment in my life in which
I can say : I am happy."
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ai6 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
Her eyes were stttl closed when the door of the
dormitory opened, and Hayat, the oldest duenna of
the harem, entered with an air of great secrecy. She
was now a shrivelled up bundle of old bones, but
formerly she had been the first favourite of Hassan
Pasha, and now she was the slave and secret
confidante of all the favourites in turn.
Azrael leaned towards her, perceiving from the
face of the duenna that she brought some message
for her ; whereupon the latter advanced and, looking
around in case anyone should be lurking there,
whispered some words in Azrael's ear.
On hearing these words the odalisk leaped from
her seat with a face flushed with joy, while
unspeakably tender tears trembled in her eyes. Her
hands were involuntarily pressed against her heaving
bosom, and her lips seemed to murmur some voiceless
prayer.
Some great unusual joy had come upon her, some
joy which she had always longed but never dared to
hope for. Scarce able to restrain herself she turned
towards her comrade, who, after listening to her,
gazed wonderingly at her and pressed her hand,
exclaiming in a voice of strong conviction : * Then it
is true, our prayer has indeed been heard I "
Azrael began merrily putting on her garments,
and helped Mariska also to dress ; then she sent the
duenna with a message to Hassan. She must go
again to the mosque of the old dervish to pray, for
she had been dreaming of Hassan.
Soon afterwards Hassan himself came to her, took
from her arm the golden shackle which fastened the
chain that bound her to Mariska, and, ordering her
palanquin to be brought up to the door, sent her away
to the old dervish; while, seizing the end of the
Princess's chain, he led her, together with her child,
into his own apartments and there sat down on his
cushiony drawing his rosary from his girdle and
mumbling the first prayers of the nadma, constantly
holding in his hand the end of the Princess's chain.
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A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD. 217
The Vizier had of late been much given to prayer,
for since the lost battle not a soul had come to visit
him. The envoys of the Sultan, the country
petitioners, the foreign ministers, the begging
brotherhoods, all of them had avoided his threshold
as if he were dead.
The first day he was painfully affected by this
manifestation, but on the second day he commanded
the door-keepers to admit none to his presence Thus,
at any rate, he could make himself believe that if
nobody came to visit him it was by his express
command.
He knew right well that a sentence of death had
been written down and that this sentence was meant
for one of two persons, either the Princess or himself,,
where their two shadows mingled a double darkness
was cast, and Israfil, the Angel of Death, stood over
them with a drawn sword.
Hassan knew this right well, and he pressed in his
hand convulsively the silver chain to which his
prisoner' was attached, that prisoner whom he
regarded as the ransom for his own life.
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CHAPTER XVIL
THE EXTRAVAGANCES OF LOVE
AFTER that melancholy scene, when the ladies of
Transylvania vainly drew tears and blushes from the
faces of their husbands, a ray of hope still remained
in one heart alone. It was pretty Aranka B£ldi, who,
when everyone else's eyes were full of tears, could
whisper words of encouragement to her unhappy
friend, and who, when everyone else abandoned her,
embraced her last of all, and said to her with firm
conviction : " Fear not, we will save you ! "
The youths of Transylvania also said : " Fear not,
we will save you ! " but Fate flung the dice blindly,
the marked men in ambush captured only the escort,
not the captive, and had all their fine trouble for
nothing.
Aranka B61di, however, begged her father to let
her go to Gernyeszeg to visit her friend Flora Teleki,
and there the two noble young damsels agreed
together to write two letters to acquaintances in
Hungary. One of them wrote to Tokoly, the other
to Feriz Beg, and when the letters were ready, they
read to each other what they had written. Flora's
letter to Tokoly was as follows :
"Sir,
"The fact that / write these lines to you
shows the desperate position I am in, when I have to
hide my blushes and apply to him whom of all men
I ought to avoid. But it is a question of life and
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THE EXTRAVAGANCES OF LOVE. 219
death. Do you recollect the moment when, in the
castle of Rumnik, you saw three maids embrace each
other, of whom I was one ? We then swore friend-
ship and good fellowship to each other. One of the
three at the present moment stands at the brink of
death ; I mean Mariska Sturdza, whose misfortunes
cannot be unknown to you, and this is not the first
mode of deliverance which we have attempted — but
the last Your Excellency is a powerful and magnani-
mous man, who has great influence with the Sultan,
and where one expedient fails, you can employ
another. I have always pictured your Excellency to
myself as a valiant and chivalrous cavalier, and from
what I know of the respect which all honourable
persons of my acquaintance have for your Excellency,
I have the utmost confidence that the unfortunate
Princess of Moldavia will not wait in vain for
deliverance Do what you can, and may I add to
the esteem in which you are held the fervent
blessings of a heart which sincerely prays for your
Excellency's welfare.
" Flora Teleki."
Flora's calculations were most just Tdkdly, in
those days, stood high in the favour of the Sultan,
was on terms of intimacy with all the pashas and
viziers, and very frequently a casual word from him
had more effect than other people's supplications.
And Flora showed a fine knowledge of character
when she appealed to the magnanimity of the very
man who had so grievously offended her, feeling
certain that just for that very reason, although Tokoly
might not recognise the force of his former obliga-
tions, he would be magnanimous enough instantly to
grant a favour to the lady who asked him for it,
especially as the woman to be liberated had been the
original cause of their separation.
Aranka kissed her friend over and over again when
she had read this letter, and then she. suddenly grew
sad.
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220 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
"Oh, my letter is not nearly so pretty, I am
ashamed to show it to you."
Flora looked at her friend with gentle bashfulness
as Aranka handed over her letter, and blushed like a
red rose all the time she was perusing it.
14 Noble-hearted Feriz!
"When we were both children you main-
tained that you loved me (here she inserted within
brackets: Mike a sister/ and a good thing for her
that she did put these three words in brackets). If
you still recollect what you said, now is the time to
prove it. My dearest friend, Mariska Sturdza, is at
Buda, a prisoner in the hands of Hassan Pasha. My
only hope of her deliverance depends on you. I have
heard such splendid things of you. If you see her,
for whom I now implore you, with a sad face and
tearful eyes, think how I should look if I were there,
and if you give her back to me, and I can embrace
her again, and look into her smiling eyes, then I will
think of you, too.
"Aranka B^ldl"
The girls entrusted these letters to faithful servants,
sending the first letter to Temesvir, where Tokdly
was then residing, and the second to Feriz Beg, who,
as we know, lay ill at Buda.
The news first reached Tokdly at supper-time. On
receiving the letter and reading it through, he at once
put down his glass, girded on his sword, and telling
his comrades that he was about to take a little stroll,
he mounted his horse and vanished from the town.
Feriz was lying half-delirious on his carpet" His
health mended but slowly, as is often the case with
men of strong constitutions, and the tidings of the
smallest disaster which befell the Turks threw him
into such a state of excitement that a relapse was
incessantly to be feared, so that at last they would
not alio* any messages at all to be brought to him,
for even when they brought good news to him he
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THE EXTRAVAGANCES OF LOVE. 221
always managed to look at them from the worst side,
so that news of any kind was absolute poison to him.
At last his Greek physician made it a rule to read
every letter addressed to his patient beforehand ; and
if it contained the least disturbing element, he let
Feriz know nothing at all about it What especially
annoyed Feriz were any letters from women, and
these were simply sent back.
Thus Aranki's letter might very easily have had
the fate of being suppressed altogether had it not
been entrusted to Master Gregory Bir6, a shrewd and
famous Szekler courier, whose honourable peculiarity
it was to go wherever he was sent, and do whatsoever
he was told, be the obstacles in the way what they
might If he had been told to give something to the
Sultan of Turkey, he would have wormed his way to
him somehow — all inquiries, all threats would have
been in vain ; he would have insisted on seeing and
speaking to him if his head had to be cut off the
next moment
One day, then, worthy Gregory Bir6 appeared
before the kiosk of Feriz Beg and asked to be
admitted.
At these words a Moor popped out, and, seizing him
by the collar, conducted him to a room where a half-
dressed man was standing before a fire cooking black
potions in all sorts of queer-shaped crooked glasses.
The Moor presented Gregory to the doctor as another
messenger.
"What is your name?" he asked, venomously
regarding him from over his shoulder, and treating-
him to the most terrifying grimace he could think
of.
M Gregory Bir6," replied the Szekler, nodding his
head twice as was his custom.
" Gregory, Gregory, what do you want here ? M
" I want to see Feriz Beg."
u I am he ; what have you brought ? "
Gregory twisted his mug derisively at these words,
and immediately reflected that the business was
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222 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
beginning badly, for the person before him did not in
the least resemble Feriz Beg as described to him.
* I have brought a letter — from a pretty girl."
" Give it to me quickly, and be off."
Gregory twisted round his short jacket that he
might get at his knapsack; but while he was fumbling
inside it he was cute enough to extract the contents
of the letter from its cover, and only handed the
empty envelope to the doctor.
"Tis well, Gregory, now you may go," said he
gently, and without so much as opening the envelope
he thrust it into the (ire and held the blazing paper
under a retort which he wanted to warm.
u Is that the way they read letters here?" asked
Gregory, scratching his head, and he crept to the
door ; but there he stopped, and while half his body
remained outside he thrust his arm up to the elbow
into the long pocket of his szure? drew from thence a
diamond-clasp, and holding it between two fingers
cried : " Look ! I found this ring on the road not far
from here, perchance Feriz Beg has lost it"
The doctor took the splendid jewel, and feeling
convinced that only a nobleman could have lost such
a thing, he said he would show it to Feriz Beg
immediately.
" Ho ! then you are not Feriz Beg after all ! " cried
the humorist.
The doctor burst out laughing.
"Gregory! Gregory! don't jest with me. I am
the cook, and if I like you I will let you stay to
dinner."
Gregory pulled a wry face at the sight of the
doctor's stews.
The doctor thereupon took in the diamond-clasp
to Feriz Beg, after bidding the Moor, whom he left
behind him, not to drink anything out of the glasses
standing there, or it would make him ill
Shortly afterwards the doctor returned in great
* Sheepskin mantle.
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THE EXTRAVAGANCES OF LOVE. 223
astonishment, planted himself in front of Gregory
with frowning eyebrows and roared at him in a voice
which alarmed even the Szekler :
44 Where did you get that jewel from ?"
"Where did I get it from?" said Gregory,
shrugging his shoulders; he was very pleased they
wanted to frighten him.
" Come, speak !— quick ! "
« Not now."
" Why not ? " snapped the doctor firmly.
"Not to you, if you were to break me on the
wheel"
" 1*11 bastinado you."
" Not if you impaled me, I say."
" Gregory ! If you anger me, Til make you drink
three pints of physic."
" They are here, eh ! " exclaimed Gregory,
approaching the hearth, skipping among the
flasks of the doctor, and seizing one of them, but
he had the sense to choose alcohol, and dragging it
from its case, sipped away at it till there was not
a drop of it left.
" Leave a little in it, you dog ! " yelled the doctor,
snatching the flask away from him, " don't drink it
all!"
" I'll drink up the whole shop, but speak I won't
unless I like."
The doctor perceived that he had met his match.
"Then will you speak before Feriz Beg?" he
asked
" I'll speak the whole truth thea"
So there was nothing for it but to open Feriz Beg's
door before Gregory and shove him inside.
Feriz Beg was sitting there on a couch, a feverish
flush was burning upon his pale face ; he still held
the jewel in his hand, and his eyes were fastened
upon it ; just such a similar clasp he had given to
Aranka B£ldi when they were both children together.
"How did you come by this jewel?" inquired
Feriz in a soft, mournful voice.
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" She to whom you gave it gave it to me that you
might believe she sent me to you."
At these words Feriz Beg arose with flashing eyes.
" She sent you to me 1 She ! So she remembers
me ! She thinks of me sometimes, then."
" She sent you a letter through me."
Feriz Beg stretched out a tremulous hand.
"Where is the letter?"
" I flung it into the fire/' interjected the doctor.
"How dared you do that?" exclaimed Feriz
angrily.
But the doctor was not afraid.
" I am your doctor, and every letter injures your
health."
"Panajot! you are an impertinent fellow!"
thundered Feriz, with a face of inflamed purple;
and he smote the table such a blow with his fist
that all the medicine bottles tumbled off it
" Don't be angry, sir ! " said Gregory, twisting his
moustache at both ends, while Panajot coolly swept
together the fragments of the broken bottles and
boxes on the floor ; " the worthy man did not burn
the letter but only the envelope. I had gumption
enough not to entrust the inside of it to him."
And with these words he drew from his pouch
a letter written on all four sides of the sheet and
handed it to Feriz, who before reading it covered
with kisses the lines traced by that dear hand, while
Master Panajot looked at Gregory in amazement.
"Go along, you old fox, Gregory," said he ; "next
time you come, III throw you into the fire to boot"
But Gregory, highly delighted, feasted his eyes on
the youth's face all the time he was reading the
letter.
As if his soul had changed within him, as if he had
passed from the troubles of this world to the joys of
Paradise, every feature of the youth's face became
smiling and joyful The farther he read the brighter
grew his eyes ; and when he came to the last word
he pressed the leaf to his heart with an expression of
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THE EXTRAVAGANCES OF LOVE. aas
the keenest rapture, and held it there a long time,
closing his eyes as if in a happy dream, as if he had
shut them to see no other object when he conjured
up her image before his mind.
Master Panajot was alarmed, fancying some
mischief had happened to the invalid, and turned
upon Gregory with gnashing teeth :
" What infernal document have you brought along
with you, Gregory ?"
Feriz meanwhile smilingly nodded his head as if
he would thank some invisible shape, and whispered
softly :
" So it shall be, so it shall be."
" I'm afraid you feel bad, my master" said the
doctor.
Feriz looked up, and his face had grown quite
round.
" I ? — I feel very well. Take your drugs from my
table, and bring me wine and costly meats dear to
the eyes and mouth. I would rejoice my soul and
my palate. Call hither musicians, and open wide
my gate. Pile flowers upon my windows, I would be
drunk with the fragrance of the flowers that the
breeze brings to me."
Panajot fancied that the invalid had gone out of
his mind, and yet full of the joy of life he rose from
his couch, laid aside his warm woollen garment, put
on instead a light silk robe, wound round his head a
turban of the finest linen instead of the warm shaggy
shawl, and he who had hitherto been brooding and
fretting apathetically, had suddenly become as light
as a bird, paced the room with rapid steps, with
proudly erected face, from which the livid yellow of
sickness had suddenly disappeared, and his eyes
sparkled like fire.
Panajot could not account for the change, and
really believed that the patient had fallen into some
dangerous paroxysm and in this persuasion bawled
for all the members of the negro family. The old
Egyptian door-keeper, a young Nubian huntsman, a
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926 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH..
Chinese cook, trampling upon each other in their
haste, all rushed into the room at his cry.
Feriz Beg, with boyish mirth, stopped them all
before the doctor could say a word.
14 Thou, AH," he said to the old door-keeper, a go to
the mosque and cast this silver among the poor that
they may give thanks to Allah for my recovery.
And thou, O cook! prepare a dinner for twelve
persons, looking to it that there is wine and flowers
and music ; and thou, my huntsman, bring forth the
fieriest steed and put upon him the most costly
wrappings ; and ye others, take this worthy doctor
and lock him up among his drugs that he may not
get away, and call hither all my friends and acquaint-
ances, and tell them we will celebrate the festival of
my recovery."
The servants with shouts of joy fulfilled the com-
mands of Feriz. First of all they shoved good Panajot
into his drug-brewing kitchen, and then they dispersed
to do their master's bidding.
Feriz then took the hand of the Szekler who had
brought the message and shook it violently, saying to
him in a loud firm voice :
"Thou must remain with me till I have accom-
plished thy mistress's commands. For she has laid
a command upon me which I must needs obey."
Meanwhile, the ostlers had brought forward the
good charger. It was a fiery white Arab, ten times
as restless as usual because of its long rest ; not an
instant were its feet still. Two men caught it by the
head and were scarce able to hold it, its pink, wide
open nostrils blew forth jets of steam, and through its
smooth white mane could be seen the ruddy hue of
the full blood.
The unfortunate Panajot poked his head through
the round window of his laboratory, and from thence
regarded with stupefaction his whilom invalid bestride
the back of the wild charger, that same invalid who,
if anyone knocked at his door an hour or two before,
complained that his head was bursting.
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THE EXTRAVAGANCES OF LOVE. 227
The charger pranced and caracolled and the doctoi
with tears in his eyes besought the bystanders if they
had any sense of feeling at all not to let the Beg ride
on such a winged griffin. They only laughed at him.
Feriz flung himself into the saddle as lightly as a
grasshopper. The two stablemen let go the reins, the
steed rose up erect on his hind legs and bucked along
as a biped for several yards. Then the Beg struck
the sharp stirrups into its flank, and the steed, snorting
loudly, bowed its head over its fore-quarters and
galloped off like lightning.
The doctor followed him with a lachrymose eye,
every moment expecting that Feriz would fall dead
from his horse ; but he sat in the saddle as if grown
to it, as he had always been wont to do. When the
road meandered off towards the fortress he turned
into it and disappeared from the astonished gaze of
those who were looking after him.
A few moments later the horseman was in the
courtyard of the fortress. He demanded an interview
with the general, and was told that he was receiving
nobody. He applied therefore to his favourite eunuch
instead. He arrived at the fortress with a full purse,
he quitted it with an empty one ; but he now knew
everything he wanted to know, viz., that Hassan had
entrusted the captive Princess to Azrael; that the
two girls were tied by the hands to one chain ; that
he greatly feared someone would come and filch the
Princess from > m ; that he got up ten times every
night to see whether anyone had stolen into the
palace; and nat since Mariska had been placed in
his hands Le had drunk no wine and smoked no
opium, and would eat of no dish save from the hands
of his favourite damsel.
Feriz Beg knew quite enough. Again he mounted
his horse and galloped back to his kiosk, taking the
neighbouring mosque on his way, on reaching which
he called from his horse to the old dervish, who
immediately appeared in answer to his summons.
" Tell her who was wont to visit me in thy stead
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u8 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
that I want to see and speak to her early to-morrow
morning."
And with that he threw some gold ducats to the
dervish and galloped off.
The dervish looked after him in astonishment, and
picking up the ducats, instantly toddled off to the
fortress, prowled about the, gate all night, met Hajat
at early dawn, and gave her the message for Azrael.
This was the joyful tidings which the odalisk had
received in response to her first prayer, and which had
made her so happy.
Next morning she ordered her servants to admit
none but the old dervish, and to close every door as
soon as he had entered.
Shortly afterwards, Azrael with her retinue of
servants arrived at the mosque, and a few moments
after she had disappeared behind the trellised railings
the form of the old dervish appeared in the street,
hobbling along with his crutch till he reached the
kiosk. Feriz Beg perceived him through the window,
and sent everyone from the room that he might
remain alone with him.
The dervish entered, closed the door behind him,
let down the tapestries, took off his false beard and
false raiment, and there before Feriz — tremulous,
blushing, and shamefaced — stood the odalisk.
"Thou hast sent for me," she stammered softly,
"and behold — here I am !"
* I would beg something of thee," said Feriz, half
leaning on his elbow.
11 Demand my life I " cried the odalisk impetuously,
" and I will lay it at thy feet ! " and at these words
she flung herself at the foot of the divan on which the
youth was sitting.
" I ask thee for nothing less than thy life. Once
thou saidst that thou didst love me. Is that true now
also?"
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THE EXTRAVAGANCES OF LOVE. 229
u Is it not possible to love thee, and yet live ?"
* Say then that I might love thee if I knew thee
better. Good ! I wish to know thee."
The damsel regarded the youth tremblingly, waiting
to hear what he would say to her.
The youth rose and said in a solemn, lofty voice :
* In my eyes not the roses of the cheeks, or the fire
of the eyes, or bodily charms make a woman beautiful,
but the beauty of the soul, for I recognise a soul in
woman, and she is no mere plaything for the pastime
of men. What enchants me is noble feeling, self-
sacrifice, loyalty, resignatioa Canst thou die for him
whom thou lovest ? "
u It would be rapture to me."
u Canst thou die for her whom thou hatest in order
to prove how thou dost love ? "
a I do not understand," said Azrael hesitating.
"Thou wilt understand immediately. There 13 a
captive woman in Hassan's castle who is entrusted to
thy charge. This captive woman must be liberated
Wilt thou liberate her?"
At these words AzraePs heart began to throb
feverishly. All the blood vanished from her face.
She looked at the youth in despair, and said with a
gasp:
" Dost thou love this woman?"
u Suppose that I love her and thou dost free her all
the same."
The woman collapsed at the feet of Feriz Beg, and
embracing his knees, said, sobbing loudly :
"Oh, say that thou dost not love her, say that thou
dost not know her, and I will release her — I will
release her for thee at the risk of my own life."
The reply of Feriz was unmercifully cold.
M Believe that I love her, and in that belief sacrifice
thyself for her. This night I will wait for her
wherever thou desirest, and will take her away if thou
wilt fetch her. It was thy desire to know me, and I
would know thee also. Thou art free to come or
go as thou choosest"
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130 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
The odalisk hid her tearful face in the carpets on
the floor, and writhed convulsively to the feet of
Feriz, moaning piteously.
" Oh, Feriz, thou art merciless to me."
" Thou wouldst not be the first who had sacrificed
her life for love."
" But none so painfully as I."
u And art thou not proud to do so, then ? "
At these words the woman raised a pale face, her
large eyes had a moonlight gleam like the eyes of a
sleep-walker. She seized the hand of Feriz in order
to help herself to rise.
"Yes, I am proud to die for thee. I will show
that here— within me— there is a heart which can
feel nobly— which can break for that which it loves,
for that which kills it— that pride shall be mine. I
will do it"
And then, as if she wished to clear away the
gathering clouds from her thoughts, she passed her
hand across her forehead and continued in a lower,
softer voice :
"This night, when the muezzin calls the hour of
midnight, be in front of the fortress-garden on thy
fleetest horse. Thou wilt not have to wait long;
there is a tiny door there which conceals a hidden
staircase which leads from the fortress to the trenches.
I will come thither and bring her with me."
Feriz involuntarily pressed the hand of the girl
kneeling before him, and felt a burning pressure in
his hand, and when he looked at the young face
before him he saw the smile of a sublime rapture
break forth upon her radiantly joyful features.
Azrael parted from Feriz an altogether transformed
being, another heart was throbbing in her breast,
another blood was flowing to her heart, earth and
heaven had a different colour to her eyes. She
believed that the youth would love her if she died
for him, and that thought made her happy.
But Feriz summoned Gregory Bir6, and having
recompensed him, sent him back to his mistress with
the message :
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THE EXTRAVAGANCES OF LOVE, 131
■ Thy wish hath been accomplished"
So sure was he that Azrael would keep her word—
if only she were alive to do so.
Hassan Pasha waited and waited for Azrael. If
the odalisk was not with him he felt as helpless as a
child who has strayed away from its nurse. In the
days immediately following the lost battle, the shame
attaching to him and his agonized fear for his life
had quite confused his mind ; and the drugs
employed at that time, combined with restless nights,
the prayers of the dervishes, the joys of the harem
and opium, had completed the ruin of his nervous
system. If he were left alone for an hour he
immediately fainted, and when he awoke it was in
panic terror — he gazed around him like one in the
grip of a hideous nightmare. For some days he
would leave off his opium, but as is generally the
case when one too suddenly abandons one's favourite
drug, the whole organism threatened to collapse, and
the renunciation of the opium did even more mischief
than its enjoyment
When Azrael rejoined him he was asleep, the
chain by which he held the Princess had fallen from
his hand and when he awoke there was a good
opportunity of persuading him that Mariska had
escaped from him while he slept
Hassan looked long and blankly at her, it seemed
as if he would need some time wherein to rally his
scattered senses sufficiently to recognise anyone.
But Azrael was able to exercise a strange magnetic
influence over him, and he would awake from the
deepest sleep whenever she approached him.
Azrael sat down beside the couch and embraced
the Vizier, while Mariska, with tender bashfulness,
turned her head away from them ; and Hassan,
observing it, drew Azrael's head to his lips and
whispered in her ear :
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*3* THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
" I have had evil dreams again. Hamaliel, the
angel of dreams, appeared before me, and gave me to
understand that if I did not kill this woman, he would
kill me. My life is poisoned because she is here. ^
My mind is not in proper order. I often forget who
I am. I fancy I am living at Stambul, and looking
out of the window am amazed that I do not see the
Bosphorus. This woman must die. This will cure
me. I will kill her this very day."
Mariska did not hear these words, all her attention
was fixed upon the babbling of her child ; and
Azrael, with an enchanting smile, flung herself on
the breast of the Vizier, embracing his waggling
head and covering his face with kisses, and the smile
of her large dark eyes illuminated his gloomy soul.
Poor Hassan ! He fancies that that enchanting
smile, that embrace, those kisses are meant for him,
but the shape of a handsome youth hovers before the
mind of the odalisk, and that is why she kisses Hassan
so tenderly, embraces him so ardently, and smiles so
enchantingly. She fancies 'tis her ideal whom she sees
and embraces.
Ah, the extravagances of love!
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CHAPTER XVIIL
SPORT WITH A BLIND MAN.
AzRAEL had felt afraid when Hassan said : " I must
kill this woman to-day." A fearful spectre was
haunting the mind of the Vizier ; he must be freed
from this spectre, and made to forget it
So Azrael devised an odd sport for the man on the
verge of imbecility.
The seven days had passed during which Hassan
had forbidden that anyone should be admitted to his
presence, and it occurred to Azrael that in the ante-
chamber crowds of brilliant envoys, and couriers, and
supplicants were waiting, all eagerly desirous of an
audience, many of them with rich gifts ; others came
to render homage, others with joyful tidings from the
seat of war ; whilst one of them had come all the way
from the Grand Vizier with a very important message
from the Sultan himself.
Hassan's stupid mind brightened somewhat at these
words, a fatuously good-natured smile lit up his face.
" Let them come in, let them appear before me"
he said joyfully to the girl ; " and remain thou beside
me and introduce them to me one by one; thine
shall be the glory of it."
But in reality none was awaiting an audience in the
ante-room, there were no splendid envoys there, no
humble petitioners, no agas, no messengers, none but
the Vizier's own slaves.
But these Azrael dressed up one by one to look like
splendid magnates, village magistrates, and soldiers ;
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«34 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
put sealed letters, purses, and banners in their hands,
and placing Hassan in the reception-room on a lofty
divan, sat down with the Princess on stools at his
feet, and ordered the door-keepers to admit the
disguised slaves one by one.
The mockery was flagrant, but was there among
them all any who dared to enlighten Hassan ? Who
would undertake to undeceive him when a mere nod
from Azrael might annihilate before the Vizier could
realise that they were making sport of him ? It was
a fleet-winged demon fooling a sluggish mammoth
with strength enough to crush her but with no wings
to enable it to get at her, and the rabble always takes
the part of the mocker, not of the mocked, especially
if the former be lucky and the latter unlucky.
The loutish slaves came one by one into the room,
and Hassan turned his face towards them, remaining
in that position while Azrael told him who they were
and what they wanted.
" This is Ferhad Aga," said the odalisk, pointing at
a stable-man, " who, hearing of thy martial prowess in
all four corners of the world has come hither begging
thee with veiled countenance to include him among
thy armour-bearers."
Hassan most graciously extended his hand to the
stable-man and granted him his petition.
Azrael next presented to Hassan a cook from a
foreign court, who, dressed in a large round mantle
of cloth of silver, might very well have passed for a
burgomaster of Debreczen, and whose shoulders bent
beneath the weight of two sacks of gold and silver
from Hassan's own treasury.
" This is the magistrate of the city of Debreczen,"
said the odalisk, " who hath brought thee a little gift
in the name of the municipality, with the petition
that when thou dost become the Pasha of Tran-
sylvania thou wilt not forget them."
Hassan smiled at the word money, had the sacks
placed before him, thrust his arms into them up to
his very wrists with great satisfaction, had their
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SPORT WITH A BLIND MAN. 235
contents emptied at his feet, and dismissed the -nvoy
with a hearty pressure of the hand.
And now followed a negro, who brought some
recaptured Turkish banners from the bed of a river
which did not exist, in which the Turks had drowned
the whole army of Montecuculi.
Hassan was now in such a weak state of mind that
he no longer recognised his own people in their
unwonted garments, and the more extraordinary the
things reported to him the more readily he believed
them.
And so Azrael kept on exhibiting to him envoys,
couriers, and captains till, at last, it came to the turn
of the envoy of the Grand Vizier, whose part the
odalisk had entrusted to a clever eunuch who had
been instructed to present to Hassan a sealed firman,
which Azrael was to read because Hassan could not
see the letters. It was to the effect that Hassan
was to endeavour to preserve the life of the captive
Princess, as the Grand Vizier himself intended in a
few days to take her over alive. ?
When thus it seemed good to Azrael that the most
striking scene of the whole game should begin she
exclaimed in a loud voice to the door-keepers :
" Admit the ambassador of the Grand Vizier with
the message from the Sublime Padishah ! "
The guards drew back the curtains and in came—
OlajBeg!
•'Truly I must needs admit," said he turning
towards the odalisk, who stood there petrified with
fear and amazement, "truly I must admit that thou
art blessed with the faculty of seeing through walls
and reading fast-closed letters, for thou hast announced
me before I appeared officially and thou hast seen the
firman hidden in my bosom before I have had time
to produce it"
Azrael arose. She felt her blood throbbing in her
brain for terror. At that moment she had that keen
sensation of danger when every atom of the body —
heart, brain, hands, and the smallest nerve — sees,
hears, and thinks.
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«36 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
"Thou hast brought the firman of the Sultan? 91
she inquired of Olaj Beg with wrapt attention.
" Thou knowest also what is written in it, O enchan-
tress ! " said Olaj, in a tone of homage, " therefore ask
not"
There was something in the yellow face of Olaj
Beg which made him most formidable, most menacing
at the very time when he seemed to be utterly abject
in his humility.
"What doth the Sublime Sultan command?"
inquired Hassan, gazing abstractedly in front of him.
" That thou prepare a scaffold in the courtyard of
thy palace by to-morrow morning."
" For whom ? " inquired Hassan in alarm. It was
curious that it was he who trembled at this word, and
not the Princess.
"That is the secret of to-morrow. Thou shalt
break open and read this firman to-morrow, in it
thou wilt find who is to die to-morrow."
At these words Olaj Beg looked at the faces of all
who were present, as if he would read their innermost
thoughts, but in vaia He recognised none of those
on whom his eyes fell. Although many of them
seemed to be great men he could not remember
meeting any of them in the Empire of the Grand
Turk; and the face of Azrael was as cold and
motionless as marble, he could read nought from
that
But Azrael had already read the sealed firman
through the eyes of Olaj Beg.
She had read it, and it said that if by to-morrow
morning the Princess was not set free then the scaffold
would be erected for her, but if she had escaped, then
it would be raised for Hassan and for whomsoever
had set her free.
" I must hasten to set her free," she thought
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CHAPTER XIX
THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH.
The Angel of Death had already spread his wings
over the palace of Hassan. It was already known that
on the morning of the morrow someone of those who
now dwelt beneath that roof would quit the world —
only the name of the condemned mortal was not
pronounced.
Till late at evening the carpenters were at work in
front of the palace gates, and every nail knocked into
the fabric of the scaffold was audible in the rooms.
When the structure was ready they covered it with
red cloth, and placed upon it a three-legged chair and
by the side of the chair leaned a bright round heads-
man's sword. A gigantic Kurd then mounted the
scaffolding, and stamped about the floor with his big
feet to see whether it would break down beneath him.
The chair was badly placed, he observed it, put it
right and shook his head while he did so. To think
that people did not understand how to set a chair !
Then he stripped his muscular arms to the shoulder,
took up the sword in his broad palm and tested the
edge of it, running his fingers along the blade as if it
were some musical instrument and could not conceal
his satisfaction. Then he made some sweeping blows
with it, and as if everything was now in perfect order,
he leaned it against the chair again and descended
the ladder like a man well content with himself.
The hands of Hassan Pasha trembled unusually
when that evening he locked the golden padlocks on
the hands of Azrael and Mariska. A hundred times
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*38 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
he tapped the key hidden in his girdle to convince
himself that it had not fallen out
Scarcely had he left the two women alone than he
came back to them again to ascertain whether he
had really locked their hands together, for he had
forgotten all about it by the time he had reached the
door.
Then he came back a second time, looked all round
the room, tapped the walls repeatedly, for he was
afraid or had dreamt that there was another door
somewhere which led out of the room. However, he
convinced himself at last that there was not Then
he went to the window and looked out There was a
fall of fifteen feet to the bastions, and the ditch below
was planted with sharp stakes ; all round the room
there was nothing whatever which could serve as a
rope. The curtains were all of down and feathers ;
the dresses were of the lightest transparent material ;
the shawls which formed Azrael's turban and were
twisted round her body were the finest conceivable ;
and the garments the odalisk actually wore were
of silk, and so light that they stuck to the skin
everywhere.
Azrael saw through the mind of the Vizier.
"Why dost though look at me?" she exclaimed
aloud so that he trembled all over; "thou dost
suspect me. If thou fearest this woman whom thou
hast confided to me, take and guard her thyself"
" Azrael," said Hassan meekly, " be not angry with
me, at least not now."
" Thou hast never suspected me, then?"
"Have I not always loved thee? If even thou
didst want my life would I not trust it with thee ? "
"Then wander not about the room so. Go and
rest!"
" Rest to night? The Messenger of Death stands
before the door."
"What care I about the Messenger of Death? 1
know when I am going to die 1 And till then I will
not lower my eyes before Death."
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THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH. 239
"And when will Hassan die?" asked the Vizier,
seizing the hand of his favourite and watching eagerly
for her answer with parted lips.
u Thou wilt survive me a day and no longer/' said
AzraeL There was a tremulousness in the intonation
of her voice. She felt that what she said was true.
The tears trickled from Hassan's face, and he
covered it with his hands.
Then the imbecile old man kissed the robe of the
odalisk again and again, and folding her in his ardent
embrace, actually sobbed over her. And he kept on
babbling :
*Thou wilt die before me? M
" So it is written in the book of the Future/' said
Azrael proudly ; * so long as thou seest me alive,
have no fear of Death 1 But the sound of the horn
of the Angel of Death which summons me away will
also be a signal for thee to make ready. 11
Hassan, having dried his tears, quitted Azrael's
room, and on reaching his own, sank down upon a
divan, and was immediately overcome by sleep.
When he had gone, Mariska knelt down before
the bed on which her little child was softly sleeping,
and drawing a little ivory cross from her breast, began
to pray.
Azrael touched her hand
" Pray not now, thou wilt have time to pray later."
Mariska looked at her in wonder.
w I ? Are not the hours of my life numbered ? "
"No. Listen to my words and act accordingly.
I will free thee."
The Princess was astonished, she fancied she was
dreaming.
The odalisk now drew a small fine steel file from
her girdle, and, seizing the Princess's hand, began to
file the chain from off it
After the first few rubs the sharp file bit deeply
into the silver circlet, but suddenly it stopped, and,
press it as hard as she would, it would bite the chain
00 more.
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«4° THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
" What is this ? it won't go on. What is the chain
made of? Even if it were of steel, another steel
would file it"
Azrael hastily filed right round the whole of the
link which Hassan's smith had thought good to form
of silver only on the outside, thinking that the fraud
would never be discovered, and behold, the hard
impervious substance which resisted the file was
nothing but — glass.
"Ah!" said Azrael, "all the better for us, the
work will be quicker ; " and seizing an iron candle-
stick, she broke in pieces with a single blow the
whole of the glass chain which was only covered by
a light varnish of silver, only the two locked golden
manacles remained in their hands.
" We shall be ready all the sooner," she whispered
to Mariska, " now we must make haste and get you
off."
But Mariska still stood before her like one who
knows not what is befalling her.
" Hast thou thought how we are to escape ? " she
inquired of Azrael. "The guards of Hassan Pasha
stand at every door, and all the doors have been
locked by his own hand. In front of the gates pf
the fortress the sentinels have been doubled. I heard
what commands he gave."
" I have nought to do with doors or guards ; we
are going to escape through the window."
Mariska looked at Azrael incredulously ; she fancied
she had gone mad. She could see nothing in the
room by which they could descend from the window,
and below stood the thickly planted sharp stakes.
" Help me to let down this gobaea ladder ! " said
Azrael, and quick as a squirrel herself, she leaped on
the edge of the great porcelain tub, and thrust aside
the vigorous shoots of the plant from its natural
ladder within, which grew right up to the roof and
thence descended again to its own roots.
Mariska began to see that her companion knew
hat she was about She hastened to give her
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THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH. 241
assistance, lowered the pliable trunk, and, looking
round to see if anyone was watching, bent the
branches towards the window.
But still it was too short The longest creepers
only reached to the edges of the palisade, and one
could not count upon the green sprouts at die end of
the creepers. Even if the ladder which formed the
flower were attached to it, it would still not reach to
the bottom of the trench
Azrael looked around the room to see if she could
find anything. Suddenly she had hit upon it
" Give me those scissors," she said to Mariska, and
when the latter had returned to her, the odalisk had
already let down her flowing tresses. Four long
locks as black as night, reaching below her knee, the
crown of a woman's beauty which make men rejoice
in her, were twining there on the floor.
" Give me the scissors 1 " she said to Mariska.
"Wouldst thou cut off thy hair? 11 asked the
Princess, holding back.
" Yes, yes, what does it matter ? It is wanted for
the rope, and it will be quite strong enough."
" Rather cut off mine ! " said Mariska. With noble
emulation she took from her head her small pearl
haube, and loosened her own tresses, which, if not so
long and so full of colour, at least rivalled those of
her comrade in quantity.
" Good ; the two together will make the rope
stronger," said Azrael ; and with that the two ladies
began clipping off their luxurious locks one by one
with the little scissors. One marvellously beautiful
tress after another flowed from the head of the
odalisk. When the last had fallen, a tear-drop also
followed it
Then she picked up the splendid tresses and began
plaiting them together into strong knots.
"Wouldst thou ever have thought," said Azrael,
"that the locks of thy hair would be so inter-
mingled?"
Mariska gratefully pressed the hand of the odalisk.
<i
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242 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
" How can I ever thank you for your goodness? 19
" Think not of it Fate orders it so — and someone
else/' she muttered softly.
And now the attached ladder was long enough to
reach the bottom of the palisades. Then they pitched
down all the pillows and cushions of the divans till
they covered the sharp stakes, so that their points
might not hurt the fugitives. Moreover, Azrael tied
the tough shoots of the gobsea to the cross piece of
the window with the wraps of her turban and girdle.
" And now let me go first," said the odalisk, when
all was ready ; " if the branches of the creeper do
not break beneath me, then thou canst come boldly
after me, for thou and the child together are not
heavier than I am."
The sky was dark and obscured by clouds ; no one
saw a white shape descending from one of the black
windows of the fortress down the wall, lower and
lower, till at last it got to the bottom and vanished
in the depths of the ditch.
Mariska was waiting above there with a beating
heart till the odalisk had descended ; a tug at the
gobaea-rope informed her that Azrael was already
below, and Mariska could come after her.
A supplicating sigh to God ascended from the
anxious bosom of the Princess at that supreme
moment of trial ; then she fastened to her breast
with the folds of her garment the little one, who,
fortunately, was still sound asleep, and stepping from
the window entrusted herself to the yawning abyss
below.
And, indeed, she had need of the most confident
trust in God during this hazardous experiment, for
if the child had awoke, the Komparajis pacing the
bastions would have heard his tearful little wail at
once, and it would have been all over with the
fugitives.
Nothing happened. Mariska reached the ditch in
safety, together with her child. Azrael assisted her
to descend, and then they began to creep along
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THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH. 343
among the trenches on the river's bank. It was not
advisable to clamber upon the trenches, as there they
might have encountered a sentinel at any moment
At last they came to the end of the ditch where
two bastions joined together, forming a little oblique
opening, through which one could look down on the
town of Pesth.
Before the little opening stood a Komparaji leaning
on his long lance. As his back was turned towards
them, he did not notice the women, while they started
back in terror when they saw him. The man stood
right in front of the opening completely barring their
way, and was gaping at Pesth, facing the steep
declivity.
Azrael quickly caught Mariska's hand and whis-
pered in her ear:
44 Remain here ! Sit down with the child, and see
that he does not make a noise. 11
And with that, quitting her companion and pressing
against the wall of the bastion, she slowly and noise-
lessly began creeping along behind the back of the
Komparaji.
The sentinel remained standing there, as motionless
as a statue, gazing at the Danube flying in front of
him, when suddenly, like the panther leaping upon
its prey, the odalisk leaped upon the Komparaji,
and before he had time to call out, pushed him
so violently that he plunged over into the abss.
Then quickly seizing Mariska's hand, the odalisk
exclaimed:
"And now forward quickly I w
Like two spirits the forms of the women flitted
across the bastions. In Azrael's hand was the key
of the castle garden ; in a few moments they reached
the subterranean staircase, and when Azrael had
locked the door behind her she turned to Mariska
and said:
" Now thou canst pray, for thou art saved"
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144 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
The report had already spread through the two
towns that early at dawn someone would be executed,
and here and there people whispered that it would be
the Princess of Moldavia.
The population living outside the town were able
to give full reins to their imagination, for the gates
of the fortress, by Hassan Pasha's command, were
already locked fast at six o'clock in the evening, and
after that time nobody was allowed to enter out or
in except the sentinels outside, and these only by the
Szombat gate.
The later grew the hour the more numerous
became the crowd assembled in front of the gates
thus unwontedly bolted and barred, consisting for
the most part of people who lived inside the town of
every rank, who thus waited patiently for the chance
of reaching their houses again. Knocking at the
gates was useless, the guards had been ordered to
take no notice of such demonstrations.
The darker grew the night, the more numerous
became the throng before the gate, and the more
closely they pressed together the plainer it became
to them all that they would have to sleep outside.
The largest concourse was in front of the Fej6rvir
gate, for that was the chief entrance.
It was already close upon midnight, when some
dozen horsemen, in the uniforms of Spahis, arrived
at the gate, forcing their way through the throng, led r
apparently, by a handsome youth (it was too dark
to distinguish very clearly), who thundered at the
gate with the butt-end of his lance.
"You may bang away at it till morning," said a
cobbler of Buda, who was lying prone, chawing
bacon at his ease, " they won't let you in."
"Then why are you all here?" cried the youth in
the purest Hungarian.
" Because they locked us out at six o'clock in the
evening, and would not let us in."
"Why was that?"
"They say that at dawn of day someone in the
fortress is to be executed."
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THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH. 245
• Who is it?* said the youth, visibly affected.
u Why, the Princess of Moldavia, of course."
" Oh, that cannot be in any case/ 1 exclaimed the
leader of the Spahis. " I have just come from the
Sultan, and I have brought with me his firman, in
which he summons her to Stambul ; not a hair of her
head is to be crumpled."
" Then it will be just as well, sir, if you try to get
into the fortress, for it may be you have come with
the sermon after the festival is over, and that letter
may remain in your pocket if once they cut off her
head."
The youth seemed for a moment to be reflecting,
then, turning to those who stood around, he said :
" Through which gate do they admit the soldiers
on guard ? "
" Through the Szombat gate."
The youth immediately turned his horse's head,
and beckoned to his comrades to follow him.
But at the first words he had uttered, a figure
enwrapped in a mantle had emerged from a corner
of the gate, and when he began to talk about the
Princess and the firman, this figure, with great
adroitness, had crept quite close to him, and when
he turned round had swiftly followed him till, having
made its way through the throng, it overtook him,
and, placing its hand on the horseman's knee, said
in a low voice : u Tokdly 1 "
" Hush 1 " hissed the horseman, with an involuntary
start, and bending his head so that he might look
into the face of his interlocutor, whereupon his
wonder was mingled with terror, and throwing
himself back in his saddle, he exclaimed : " Prince 1
can it be you?"
For Prince Ghyka stood before him.
" Could I be anywhere else when they want to kill
my wife?" he said mournfully.
" Do not be cast down, there will be plenty of time
till to-morow morning. I have plenty of confidence
in my good star. When I really wish for a thing
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246 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
I generally get it even if the Devil stand in the
opposite camp against me, and never have I wished
for anything so much as to save Mariska."
The Prince, with tears in his eyes, pressed the
hand of the youth, and did not take it at all amiss of
him that he called his wife Mariska.
"Well, of course, you have brought the firman
with you, and if you come with the suite of the
Sultan "
" Firman, my friend ? I have not brought a bit of
a firman with me, and those who are with me are my
good kinsfolk in Turkish costumes, worthy Magyar
chums everyone of them, who have agreed to help
me through with whatsoever I take it into my head to
set about ; but I have got something about me which
can make firmans and athnam£s, and whatever else I
may require, whether ic be the key of a dungeon, or
a marshal's b&ton, or a prince's sceptre — a golden
knapsack, I mean."
u And what are you going to get with that ? w
" Everything. I will corrupt the sentinels so that
they will let me into the fortress ; and once let me
get in, and I'll either make Hassan Pasha sell Olaj
Beg, or Olaj Beg sell Hassan Pasha. If a good
word be of no avail I will use threats, and if my
whole scheme falls through, Heaven only knows
what I won't da I'll chop Hassan Pasha and his
guards into a dozen pieces, or I'll set the castle on
fire, or I'll blow up the powder magazine — in a
word, I won't desist till I have brought out your
consort."
" How can I thank you for your noble enthusiasm ? "
" You mustn't thank me, my friend ; you must
thank Flora Teleki, who is your wife's friend, and
expects this of me. M
* Then you are re-engaged ? "
" No, my friend. Helen is my bride. Ah, that is
the only real woman in the whole round world. I
should be with her now if I were not engaged in this
business, and as soon as I have finished with it, the
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THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH. «47
pair of us will give you a wedding the like of which
has never yet been seen in Hungary."
The Prince sadly bowed his head. He means
well, he thought, but there is a very poor chance of
his succeeding. The mercurial youth seems to have
no idea that within an hour he will be jeopardizing
his head by engaging in a foolhardy enterprise which
runs counter to the whole policy of the Turkish
Empire. But Tokoly's mind never impeded his heart
His motto always was : M Virtus nescia /rent."
"Then what do you intend to do?" T6koly
casually asked Ghyka, just as if he considered it the
most extraordinary thing in the world to find him
there.
" I also want to save Mariska, and I have hopes of
doing so/ 9 said the Prince.
M How ? Tell me ! Perchance we may be able to
unite our efforts."
"Scarcely, I think. My plan is simply to give
myself up instead of my wife. They would execute
her for my fault; it is only right that I should
appear on the scaffold and take her place."
"A bad idea!" exclaimed Tokoly, "a stupid
notion. If you deliver yourself up, they will seize
you as well as your wife and do for the pair of you.
I know a dodge worth two of that Take horse
along with us, and let us make our way into the
fortress sword in hand; we shall do much more
that way than if we went hobbling in on crutches.
Luck belongs to the audacious."
" You know, Tokoly, that I do not much rely on
Turkish humanity ; and I am quite prepared, if I
deliver myself up, for them to kill both me and her ;
but at least we shall die together, and that will be
some cpnsolatioa"
" It is no good talking like that" cried the young
Magyar impatiently. M Stop I A good idea occurs
to me. Yes, and it will be better if you come with
us and we all act in common. We will say openly
at the gate that we bring with us the fugitive Prince
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248 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
of Moldavia as a captive. At the mere rumour of
such a thing they will instantly admit us, not only
into the fortress, but into the presence of Hassan
likewise. The Pasha knows me pretty well, and if I
tell him that I bring you a captive, he will believe
me, or I'll break his head for him. He will be
delighted to see you. But I will not give you up.
I am responsible for you, and must mount guard
over you. This will make it necessary to postpone
the execution, for we shall have to write to Stambul
that the husband has fallen into our hands, and
inquire whether the wife is to be sacrificed, and we
shall have time to elope ten times over before we get
a reply."
The Prince hesitated. If this desperate expedient
had been a mere joke, Tdkoly could not have spoken
of it with greater nonchalance. The Prince gave him
his hand upon it
M The only question now is : which is the easiest
way into the fortress. Let us draw near the first
sentinel whom we find on the bridge or in the garden
and wait until they change guard. 91
The horsemen thereupon surrounded the Prince as
if he was their captive, and escorted him along the
river's bank.
It was late. On the black surface of the Danube
rocked the shapeless Turkish vessels, their sails
creaking in the blast of the strong south wind
It was scarce possible to see ahead at all, never-
theless the little band of adventurers, constantly
pushing forward, kept looking around to see where
the sentinels were, keeping very quiet themselves that
they might catch the watchword.
Suddenly a cry was heard, but a cry which ended
abruptly, as if the mouth from which it proceeded
had been clapped to in mid-utterance.
On reaching the walls of the palace garden, how-
ever, one of them perceived that an armed figure was
standing in the little wicket gate.
" There's the sentinel 1 " said TokBly.
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THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH. 249
"The rascal must certainly be asleep to let us
come right up to him without challenging us/' said
Ttikoly; and he approached the armed man, who
still stood motionless in the gate, and addressed him
in the Turkish tongue :
"Hie, Timariot, or whoever you are! Are you
guarding this gate?"
" You see that I am."
" Then why don't you challenge those who approach
you?"
" That's none of my business."
" Then what is your business?"
"To stand here till I am relieved"
" And when will they relieve you ? "
* Any time."
" Does the relief watch come by this gate ? "
" Not by this gate."
"And by which gate can one get Into the
fortress?"
"By no gate."
" You give very short answers, my friend, but we
must get at Hassan Pasha this very night without
fail"
" You must learn to fly then."
" Don't joke with me, sir I I have very important
tidings for the Vizier; you may possibly find it
easier to get into the fortress than we could. You
shall receive from me a hundred ducats on the spot
if you inform the Pasha that I, Emeric Tokoly, bring
with me as a captive the fugitive Prince of Moldavia,
and the Vizier himself will certainly reward you for
it richly."
The Count had no sooner mentioned his name,
and pointed at the captive prince, than the Turkish
sentinel quickly came forth from beneath the arch-
way, and Tokoly and Ghyka, in astonishment,
exclaimed with one voice :
"FerizBeg!"
"Yes, 'tis I. Keep still. You want to save
Mariska, so do I."
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350 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
w So it is," said Tokdly. "I promised the woman
I do not love that I would do it, and I will keep my
promise. You need have no secrets from us, for we
shall require your assistance."
44 Your secrets are nought to me."
The Prince listened with downcast head to the
conversation of the two young men ; then he in-
tervened, took their hands, and said with deep
emotion :
a Feriz! Tokdly! Once upon a time we faced
each other as antagonists, and now as self-sacrificing
friends we hold each other's hands. I don't want to
be smaller than you. A scaffold has been put up in
the courtyard of the fortress of Buda, that scaffold
awaits a victim, whoever it may be, for the sword
which the Sultan draws in his wrath will not remain
unsatisfied. That scaffold was prepared for my wife,
you must let me take her place. I am well aware
that whoever liberates her must be prepared to perish
instead of her. Let me perish. You, Feriz, can
easily get into the fortress. Tell Hassan that the
scaffold shall have the husband instead of the wife-
let him surrender the wife for the husband."
" Leave the scaffold alone. Prince. He who deserves
it most shall get to the scaffold."
"Don't listen to the Prince I" said Tokdly to
Feriz ; " he has lost his head evidently, as he wants
to make a present of it to Hassan. All I ask of you
is to let me into the fortress ; once let me get inside,
and no harm shall be done I was born with a caul,
so good-luck goes with me"
"Good. Wait here till the muezzin proclaims
midnight, which will not be long, I fancy, as the
night is already well advanced; meanwhile, keep
your eye on those horsemen below there"
The men fancied Feriz wanted to join the sentinels
when the watch was relieved, and taking him at his
word, hid themselves and their horses behind the
lofty bank.
The night was now darker than ever, only here
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THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH. 151
and there a lofty star looked down upon them from
among the wind-swept clouds.
Hassan had a restless night Horrible dreams
awoke him every instant, and yet he never wholly
awoke, one phantom constantly supplanted the other
in his agitated brain.
The raging blast broke open one of the windows
and beat furiously against the wall, so that the
coloured glasses crashed down upon the floor.
Aroused by the uproar, and gazing but half awake
at the window, he saw the long curtain slowly
approaching him as if some Dzhin were inside and
had come thither to terrify him.
"Who is that?" cried Hassan in terror, laying his
hand on his sword.
It was no one. It was only the wind which had
stiffened out the curtains, expanding them like a
banner and blowing gustily into the room.
Hassan seized the curtain, pulled it away from the
window, fastened it up by its golden tassels, and laid
him down again. The wind returned to torment him
and again worried the curtain till it had succeeded in
unravelling the tassels, and again blew the curtain
into the room.
And then the tapestries of the door and the divans
began fluttering and flapping as if someone was
tugging away at their ends, and the flame of the
night-lamp on the tripod flickered right and left,
casting galloping shadows on the wall.
" What is that? Have the devils been let loose in
this palace?" Hassan asked himself in amazement
The closed doors jarred in the blast as if someone
was banging at them from the outside, and every now
and then the bang of a window-shutter would respond
to the howling of the blast
Men have curious supernatural faculties through
which their minds are suddenly illuminated. At that
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*52 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
moment the idea flashed through Hassan's brain that,
in the apartments of the wing beyond, a window must
needs be open, which was the cause of the unwonted
current of air which fluttered the curtains of his
palace and made the doors rattle, and this window
could be none other than Azrael's, and if it were
open, then the two women must have escaped
At this horrible idea he quickly leaped out on to the
floor, seized his sword, which was lying at his bedside,
and, bursting open the door, rushed like a madman
through all the apartments to Azrael's dormitory.
At the instant of their escape Azrael had, turned
over the long divan and placed it right across the
room in such a way that one end of it was jammed
against the door, whilst the other end pressed against
the wall, so that when Hassan tried to open the door,
he found it impossible to do so.
Everything was now quite clear to him.
He called to nobody to open the door ; he knew
that they had escaped. In the fury of despair he
snatched a battle-axe from the wall and began to
break open the hard oaken door, so that the whole
palace resounded with the noise of the blows, and
the guards and the domestics all came running up
together.
Having beaten in the door at last, Hassan rushed
into the room, cast a glance around, and even his
eyes could see that his slave had flown.
Howling with rage he rushed to the window, and
when he saw the dependent branches of the gobaea,
he beat his forehead with his fists and laughed aloud
as if something had broken loose inside him.
•'They have run offl" he yelled; "they have
escaped, they have stolen their lives, and they have
stolen my life, too. Run after them into every corner
of the globe, pursue them, bring them back tied
together, tied together so that the blood may flow
through their fingers. Oh, Azrael, Azrael! How
have I deserved this of thee ? M
And with that the old man burst into tears, and
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THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH. 153
perceiving the odalisk's girdle on the window-frame,
to which the plant was attached, he took it down,
kissed it hundreds of times, hid his tearful face in it,
and collapsed senseless on the floor.
" Hasten, Princess, hasten ! "
The odalisk pressed her companion's hand, and
dragged her down along the bushy hillside. And now
they had reached the hollow forming the entrance to
the underground passage which terminated at the
gates of the garden on die banks of the Danube.
The odalisk had succeeded in filching the keys of
the door of this secret passage from Hassan. While
she was trying which of the two it was that
belonged to the lock of the inner door, a cry
resounded through the stillness of the night.
" Hassan ! " exclaimed the two girls together. They
had recognised the voice.
u They have discovered our escape," said Azrael.
" Oh, God ! do not leave me ! " cried Mariska,
pressing her hands together. " My child 1 "
Azrael quickly opened the grating door. It took a
few moments, and during that time a commotion was
audible in the town, no doubt caused by the cry of
Hassan. Cries of alarm and consternation spread
from bastion to bastion, the whole garrison was
aroused, and there was a confused murmur within the
fortress.
*• Let us hasten ! " cried Azrael, quickly opening
the door and dragging after her the Princess into the
blind-black corridor.
At that moment a cannon-shot thundered from the
fortress as an alarm-signal
Mariska, at the sound of the shot, collapsed in
terror at Azrael's feet, and lay motionless in the
corridor, still holding her child fast clasped in her
arms.
" Hah ! the woman has fainted," cried the odalisk
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254 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
in alarm ; M we shall both perish here," she cried in
her despair. „
The din in the fortress grew louder every instant,
from every bastion the signal-guns thundered
M No, no, we must not perish ! " exclaimed the
heroine, and with a strength multiplied by the
extremity of the danger, she caught up the moaning
woman and child in her arms, and raising them to
her bosom began making her way with them along
the covered corridor.
Pitch darkness engulfed everything around them ;
the odalisk groped her way along by the feel of the
wet, sinuous walls, stumbling from time to time
beneath the burden of the dead weight in her arms,
but at every fresh shot she started forward again and
went on without resting.
Onwards, ever onwards ! — till the last gasp ! till the
last heart-throb ! The awakened child also began to
cry.
Azrael's knees tottered, her bosom heaved beneath
the double load, her staring eyes saw nothing ; and
the world was as dark before her soul as it was before
her eyesL
Heavy was the load upon her shoulder ; but heavier
still was the thought in her heart that this woman
whom she was saving at the risk of her own life was
the darling of him whom she loved herself, yet save
her she must, for she had promised to do so.
At every step she felt her strength diminishing;
with swimming head she staggered against the wall,
the steps seemed to have no end ; if only she could
hold out till she reached the door with her, and then
for a moment might see Feriz Beg and hear from his
lips the words : " Well done ! " — then Israfil, the Angel
of Death might come with his flaming sword.
For some time she had gathered from the hollower
resonance of the steps in the darkness that she was
approaching the door; rallying her remaining strength,
she tottered forward a few paces with her load, and
when the latch of the door was already in her hand.
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THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH. 255
her knees gave way beneath her, and along with the
Princess and the child, she fell in a heap on the
threshold, being just able to shove the key into the
lock and turn it twice.
Feriz Beg, with the Magyar nobles, plunged again
beneath the shade of the deep arch of the gate of the
fortress garden and with wrapt attention listened for
the muezzin to proclaim midnight It was then that
Azrael had said she would come.
It never occurred to him that the woman could not
come, so deeply had he looked into her heart that he
felt sure she would fulfil her promise.
If only the muezzin would proclaim midnight from
the mosque.
At last a cry sounded through the stillness of the
night, but it was not the voice of the muezzin from the
mosque, but Hassan's yell of terror from the fortress
window and the din which immediately followed it,
proclaiming that there was danger.
Feriz's heart was troubled, but he never moved
from the spot He knew right well what that noise
meant They had tried to help the Princess to escape
and her escape was discovered.
" What is that noise ? " asked the Prince apprehen-
sively, sticking up his head.
Feriz did not want to alarm him.
"It is nothing" he answered. "Some one has
stolen away on the bastions, perhaps, and they are
pursuing him."
Then the first cannon-shot resounded.
Feriz, for the first time in his life, was agitated at
the sound of a cannon.
" That is an alarm-signal/ 9 cried Ttikdly, drawing
his sword.
" Keep quiet 1 " whispered Feriz, * perhaps they are
shooting at the people who are thronging the gates."
Nevertheless the shots were repeated from every
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356 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
bastion ; the tumult, the uproar increased ; a tattoo was
beaten, the trumpets rang out and a whole concourse
of people could be seen running along the bastions
with torches and flashing swords in their hands.
" They are pursuing someone ! " cried the Prince,
and unable to endure it any longer, he leaped upon
the bank.
" I know not what it is,* stammered Feriz, and a
cold shudder ran through his body.
Ghyka grasped his sword, and would have rushed
up the hill as if obeying some blind instinct
" What would you do?" whispered Feriz, grasping
the hand of the Prince, and pulling him back by force
under the gate.
For a few moments they stood there in a dead
silence, the tumult, the uproar seemed to be coming
nearer and nearer — if it were to overtake them ?
" Hush I " whispered Feriz, holding his ear close to
the door. He seemed to hear footsteps approaching
from within and the plaintive wail of a child.
A few moments afterwards there was a fumbling at
the latch and a key was thrust into the lock and
twice turned. Feriz hastened to open the door and
the senseless forms of the two women fell at his feet
The youth quickly dragged the Prince after him,
and recognising Mariska, who still lay in the embrace
of Azrael, he placed her in her husband's arms
together with the weeping child.
. " Here are your wife and child," said he, w and now
hasten!"
"Mariska!" exclaimed the Prince, beside himself;
and embracing the child whom he now saw for the
first time, he kissed the rosy face of the one and the
pallid face of the other again and again.
That voice, that kiss, that embrace awoke the
fainting woman, and as soon as she opened her eyes,
she quickly, passionately, flung her arms round her
husband's neck while he held the child on his arm.
No sound came from her lips, all her life was in her
heart
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THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH. 257
" Quick ! quick ! * Feriz whispered to them. " Get
into this skiff. When you get to the other side it
will be time to rejoice in each other; till then we
have cause to fear, for the whole of the Buda side of
the river is on the alert But I'll look after them
here. On the other bank my servant i? awaiting
you with the swift horses ; mention my name, and
he will hand them over to you. On the banks of the
Raab you will find another of my servants with fresh
relays. Choose your horses, and then to N6grAd as
fast as you can. Thence it will be easy to escape into
Poland. Do not linger. Every moment is precious.
Forward ! "
With that he conducted the fugitives to the skiff
which was ready waiting for them, and at the bottom
of which two muscular servants of his were lying out
of sight. These helped them in, Feriz undid the rope,
and at a few strokes of the oars they were already
some distance from the shore.
Then only did Feriz breathe freely, as if a huge
load had fallen from his heart
"May they not pursue them?" inquired Tokoly
anxiously.
"They may," returned Feriz; "but they cannot
transport the horses in boats, as the fugitives now sit
in the only boat here; the bridge, too, has been
removed and they will hardly be able to build
another in time on such a night as this.' 1
The fugitives had now reached the middle of the
Danube, when Mariska, who had scarce been herself
for joy and terror in her half-unconscious state,
suddenly bethought her of her companion who had
saved her with such incomprehensible self-sacrifice
and energy, and standing up in the skiff waved her
handkerchief as if she would thereby make up for the
leave-taking which she had neglected in her joy and
haste.
" What are they doing ? " cried Feriz angrily, seeing
that they were attracting attention in consequence.
Fortunately the night was dark and the people
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«58 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
rushing down from the bastions could not see the
skiff making its way across the Danube ; presently
its shape even began to vanish out of sight of the
young eyes that were watching it
Feriz looked up to the sky with a transfigured face.
Two stars, close together, looked down very brightly
from amidst the fleeting clouds. Did he not see
Aranka's eyes in that twin stellar radiance ?
Tokbly took the hands of the young hero and
pressed them hard.
" Once before we stood face to face" he said with
a feeling voice, which came from the bottom of his
heart, " then I prevailed, now you prevail. God be
with you ! "
Then the young Count mounted his horse, and
beckoning to his comrades, galloped off in the
direction of Gellerthegy.
Feriz stood there alone on the shore with folded
arms and tried to distinguish once more the shape of
the skiff already vanishing in the darkness.
• Nobody thought of the poor odalisk who had saved
them.
All at once the youth felt the contact of a burning
hand upon his arm. Broken in mind and body, the
odalisk dragged herself to his knees, and seizing his
hand drew it to her breast and to her lips. She could
not speak, she could only sob and weep.
Feriz looked at her compassionately.
* Thou hast done well/' he said gently.
The girl embraced the youth's knees, and it was
well with her that he suffered her to do sa
" 1 thank thee for keeping thy word," said Feriz ;
" look now ! that woman was not my beloved. She
has a husband who loves her."
Indescribably sweet were these words to the damsel
In them she found the 6weetest reward for her
sufferings and self-sacrifice. Then it was not love
after all which made Feriz save this woman through
her!
The uproar meanwhile was extending along the
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THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH. 259
shore, the pursuers could see that they were on the
track of the fugitives.
" We must be off," said Feriz ; M wouldst thou like
to come with me?"
" Come with him ! " What a thought was that for
Azrael ! To be able to live under the same roof with
him!
Yet she answered : " I will not come."
It occurred to her that if she were found with the
dear youth he would perish because of her. And
besides, she knew that the invitation was dye not to
love but to magnanimous gratitude.
M I want to go over to the island," she said in a
faint voice.
"Then I'll help thee to find thy skiff/' said the
youth, extending his hand to the odalisk to raise her
up.
She was still kneeling on the ground before him.
She fixed upon him her large eyes swimming with
tears, and whispered in a tremulous voice :
" Feriz ! Thou wert wont to reward those damsels
who sacrificed themselves for thee, who died nobly
and valiantly because they loved thee. Have not I
also won that reward ?"
Feriz Beg sadly lowered his head as if it afflicted
him to think of the significance of these words ; then
softly, gently, he bent over the damsel, and drawing
her lovely head towards him, pressed a warm, feeling
kiss on her marble forehead.
The odalisk trembled with rapture beneath the
load of that more than earthly sensation of pleasure,
and leaping up and stretching her arms to Heaven,
she whispered :
" I am happy ! — For the first time in my life: Now
I may go— and die."
Feriz, tenderly embracing her, led the damsel to
her skiff Then she stopped suddenly, and leaning
her head against the shoulder of the youth, murmured
in his ear:
" When thou readiest thy kiosk, lie not down to
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sleep! Sit at thy window and look towards the
island in the direction of sunrise. The night will be
over ere long, and the dawn will come sooner than at
other times. When thou seest this portent think of
me and say for me the prayer which is used before
the cold dawn, and say from thy heart : ' That woman
does penance for her sins ! ' "
The odalisk felt two tear-drops falling upon her
cheek. They fell from the eyes of the youth.
She could never feel happier in this world than she
felt now.
A few minutes later the skiff was flying over the
rocking waves.
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CHAPTER XX.
THE VICTIM.
The Princess was saved, but she who had saved her
was doomed
Along the banks of the rivers, and on the summits
of the bastions, alarm-beacons had been kindled
announcing the flight of the fugitives It was late.
On the shore the swift Arab horses of the pursuers
were racing with the wind But the wind was not
idle, but blew and raged and fought with the foaming
waves of the Danube, and tossed and pitched about
every little boat that lay upon it
There was only one skiff, however, that ventured
to cross the Danube and rise and fall with its billows,
which were like the waves of the sea. A white form
stood stonily motionless in the boat, and the blast
kept twisting its soft garments round its body. The
trembling boatman called upon the name of Allah.
" Fear not, when you carry me,'* Azrael said to
him, and her eyes hung upon a star which shone
above her head, shining through the tatters of the
scurrying clouds.
The skiff reached the shore of the Margaret island
The damsel got out, and her last bracelet dropped
from her hand into the hand of the boatman.
* Remember me, and begonfe."
* Dost thou remain here? "
"No."
" Whither wilt thou go? "
Azrael answered nothing, but pointed mutely to
the sky.
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262 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
The boatman did not understand much about it ;
but, anyhow, he understood that he could not give
the damsel a lift up there, so he drew back his canoe
and departed
Azrael remained alone on the island, quite alone ;
for that day everyone had been withdrawn by com-
mand of the Vizier; the damsels, the guards, and
the eunuchs had all migrated to the fortress, the
paradise was empty and uninhabited.
Azrael strolled the whole length of the shore of
the island. The mortars were still thundering down
from the fortress, the horsemen were still shouting on
the river's bank, the signal fires were blazing on
the bastions, the night was dark, the wind blew
tempestuously and scattered the leaves of the trees —
but she saw neither the beacon fires, nor the darkness ;
she heard neither the tumult of men nor the howling
of the blast ; in her soul there was the light of heaven
and an angelic harmony with which no rumour, no
shape of the outer world would intermingle.
She came to the kiosk in the centre of the island.
Wandering aimlessly she had hit upon the labyrinthine
way to it unawares. The sudden view of the summer-
house startled her, and it awoke a two-fold sensation
in her heart, it appealed equally to her memory and
her imagination. She bethought her of the resolve
she had made on coming to the island. She remem-
bered that when she parted from the youth of her
heart she had said: "When thou comest to thy
kiosk, do not lie down to sleep; sit down at thy
window, and look towards the island in the direction
of the dawn. This night will be soon over, and the
dawn will dawn more quickly than at other times.
When thou seest it think of me and say for me the
prayer of direction for the departing."
She reflected that the youth must now be sitting
at the window, looking towards the island, with his
fine eyts weary of staring into the darkness. She
would not weary those fine eyes for long.
She hastily opened the door with her silver key
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THE VICTIM. 26$
and entered the hall. A hanging lamp was burning
in the room just as the servants had left it in the
morning. She drew forth a wax taper, and having '
lit it, proceeded to the other rooms, which opened
one ont of another, and whose floors were covered
by precious oriental carpets, whose walls were inlaid
with all manner of woods brought from foreign
countries, and covered with tapestries, all splendid
masterpieces of eastern art ; the atmosphere of the
rooms was heavy with intoxicating perfumes.
All this was frightful, abominable to her now. As
she walked over the carpets, it was as if she were
stepping on burning coals ; when she inhaled the
scented atmosphere, it was as though she were
breathing the corruption of the pestilence; every-
thing in these rooms awoke memories of sin and
disgust in her heart— costly costumes, porcelain vases,
silver bowls, all of them the playthings of loathsome
moments, whose keenest punishment was that she
was obliged to remember them.
But they shall all perish. And if they all perish,
if these symbols of sin and the hundred-fold more
sinful body itself become dust, then surely the soul
will remember them no more ? Surely it will depart
far, far away — perchance to that distant star — and
will be happy like the others who are near to God
and know nothing of sin, but are full of the comfort
of the infinite mercy of God, who has permitted them
to escape from hence?
With the burning torch in her hand she went all
through the rooms, tearing down the curtains and
tapestries, and piling them all on the divan ; and
when she entered the last of the rooms she saw a
pale white figure coming towards her from its dark
background. The shape was as familiar to her as if
she had seen it hundreds of times, although she knew
not where ; and its face was so gentle, so unearthly
— a grief not of this world suffused its handsome
features and the joy of heaven flashed from its calm,
quiet eyes — its hair clung round its head in tiny curls,
as guardian -angels are painted.
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264 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAEL
The damsel gazed appalled at this apparition.
She fancied Heaven had sent her the messenger of
the forgiveness of her sins ; but it was her own figure
reflected from a mirror concealed in the dark back-
ground — that gentle, downcast, sorrowful face, those
pure, shining eyes she had never seen in a mirror
before ; the cut-off hair increased the delusion.
Tremblingly she sank on her knees before this
apparition, and touching the ground with her face,
lay sobbing there for some time ; and when she again
rose up, it appeared to her as if that apparition
extended towards her its snow-white arms full of
pity, full of compassion ; and when she raised her
hands to Heaven it also pointed thither, raising
a face transformed by a sublime desire. No, she
could not recognise that face as her own, never
before had she seen it so beautiful.
Azrael placed her hands devoutly across her breast
and beckoned to the apparition to follow her, and
raising the curtain she returned into that room where
she had already raised a funeral pyre for herselC
There, piled up together, lay cushions of cloth
of gold, Indian feather-stuffs, divans filled with
swansdown, light, luxurious little tables, harps of
camphor-wood adorned with pearls, lutes with the
silvery voices of houris, a little basin filled with fine
fragrant oils composed from the aroma of a thousand
oriental flowers ; this she everywhere sprinkled over
the heaped-up stuff, and also saturated the thick
carpets with it, the volatile essence filled the whole
atmosphere.
Then she pressed her hand upon her throbbing
heart, and said : " God be with me I "
And then she fired the heaped-up materials at all
four corners, and, as if she were ascending her bridal
bed, mounted her cushions with a smiling, triumphant
face, and lay down among them, closing her eyes
with a happy smile.
In a few moments the flames burst forth at all
four corners, fed freely by the light dry stuff, and
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THE VICTIM. 165
combining above her like a wave of fire, formed a
flaming canopy over her head. And she smiled
happily, sweetly, all the time. The air, filled with
volatile oil, also burst into flame, turning into a sea
of burning blue; white clouds of smoke began to
gather above the pyre; the strings of the harp
caught by the flames burst asunder one by one from
their burning frame, emitting tremulous, woeful
sounds as if weeping for her who was about to die.
When the last harp-string had burnt — the odalisk
was dead.
The night was now drawing to a close. Feriz
Beg, quietly intent, was sitting at the window of his
kiosk, as he had promised the odalisk He had not
understood her mysterious words, but he did as
she asked, for he knew instinctively that it was the
last wish of one about to die.
Suddenly, as he gazed at the black waves of the
Danube and the still blacker clouds in the sky, he
saw a bright column of fire ascend with the rapidity
of the wind from the midst of the opposite island,
driving before it round white douds of smoke. A
few moments later the flames of the burning kiosk
lit up the whole region. The startled inhabitants
gazed at the splendid conflagration, whose flames
mounted as high as a tower in the roaring blast
Nobody thought of saving it
"No human life is lost, at any rate," they said
quietly ; " the harem and its guards were transferred
yesterday."
The wind, too, greatly helped the fire. The kiosk,
built entirely of the lightest of wood, was a heap of
ashes by the morning, when Feriz, accompanied by
the muderris in his official capacity, got into a skiff
and were rowed across to the island. Not even a
remnant of embers was to be found, everything had
been burnt to powder. Nothing was to be seen but
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266 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH,
a large, black, open patch powdered with ashes.
The fire had utterly consumed the abode of sin and
vice. Nothing remained but a black spot. In the
coming spring it will be a green meadow.
In the afternoon of the following day we see a
familiar horseman trotting up to the gates of the
fortress — if we mistake not, it is Yffim Beg.
All the way from Klausenburg he had been
cudgelling his brains to find words sufficiently
dignified to soften the expression of the insulting
message which the Estates of Transylvania had sent
through him to his gracious master. On arriving in
front of Hassan's palace he dismounted as usual,
without asking any questions, and gave the reins to
the familiar eunuchs that they might lead the horse
to the stables.
There was no trace of the scaffold that had been
erected in front of the gate the day before. Yffim
Beg entered and passed through all the rooms he
knew so well, all the doors of which were still
guarded by the drabants of Hassan as of yore ; at
last he reached Hassan's usual audience chamber, and
there he found Olaj Beg sitting on a divan reading
the Alkoran.
Yffim Beg gazed around him, and after a brief
inspection, not discovering what he sought, he
addressed Olaj Beg:
" I want to speak to Hassan Pasha," said he.
Olaj Beg looked at him, rose with the utmost
aplomb, and approached a table on which was a
silver dish covered by a cloth. This cloth he
removed, and a severed bloody head stared at Yffim
Beg with stony eyes.
"There he is— speak to him!" said Olaj Beg
gentJy.
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CHAPTER XXI.
OTHER TIMES— OTHER MEN.
GREAT men are the greatest of all dangers to little
States. There are men born to be great generals
who die as robber-chiefs. If Michael Teleki had sat
at the head of a great kingdom, his name perchance
would have ranked with that of Richelieu, and that
kingdom would have been proud of the years during
which he governed it. It was his curse that Tran-
sylvania was too small for his genius, but it was also
the curse of Transylvania that he was greater than
he ought to have beea
The Battle of St. Gothard was a painful wound
to Turkish glory, and it left behind it a constant
longing for revenge, though a ten-years' peace had
actually been concluded; and presently a more
favourable opportunity than the prognostications of
the Ulemas or the wisdom of the Lords of Tran-
sylvania anticipated presented itself, an opportunity
far too favourable to be neglected.
Treaty obligations had compelled the Kaiser to
take part in the War of the Spanish Succession against
Louis XIV., and the Kaiser's enemies at once saw
that the time for raising their standards against him
had arrived The war was to begin from Transylvania,
and the reward dangled before the Prince of Tran-
sylvania for his participation in this war was what his
ancestors had often but vainly attempted to gain in
the same way — the Kingdom of Hungary.
It was, of course, a dangerous game to risk one
kingdom in order to gain another, for both might be
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a68 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
sacrificed There was even a party in Transylvania
itself which was indisposed to risk the little Princi-
pality for the sake of the larger kingdom, and
though the most powerful arm of this party, Dionysius
Banfy, had been cut off, it still had two powerful
heads in Paul B6\di and Nicholas Bethlen.
So one fine day at the Diet assembled at Fogaras,
the Prince's guard suddenly surrounded the quarters
of Paul B&di and Nicholas Bethlen, and informed
those gentlemen that they were State prisoners.
What had they done? What crime had they
committed that they should be arrested so uncere-
moniously?
Good Michael Apafi believed that they were
aiming at the princely coronet This was a crime he
was ready to believe in at a single word, and he urged
the counsellors who had ordered the arrest at once
to put the law into execution against the arrestants.
But that is what these gentlemen took very good care
not to do. It was much easier to kill the arrestants
outright than to find a law which would meet their
case
In those days worthy Master Cserei was the com-
mandant of the fortress of Fogaras, and the castle in
which the arrestants were lodged was the property of
the Princess As soon as Anna heard of the arrest
she summoned Cserei, and showing him the signet-
ring on her finger, said to him : " Look at that ring,
and whatever death-warrant reaches you, if it bears
not the impression of that seal, you will take care
not to execute the prisoners ; the castle is mine, so
you have to obey my orders rather than the orders
of the Prince"
The Prince and his wife tnen returned together to
FejfrvAr. On the day after their arrival the chief
men of the realm met together in council at the
Prince's palace, and it was Teleki's idea that only
those should remain to dinner who were of the same
views as himself. So they all remained at the Prince's
till late in the evening, and thoroughly enjoyed the
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OTHER TIMES— OTHER MEN. 269
merry jests of the court buffoon, Gregory Bir6, who
knew no end of delightful tricks, and swallowed
spoons and forks so dextrously that nobody could
make out what had become of them.
Apafi had not noticed how much he had drunk,
for every time he had filled his beaker from the
flagon standing beside him, the flagon itself had been
replenished, so that he fancied he had drunk nothing
from sheer forgetfulness. But his face had got more
inflamed and bloodshot than usual, and suddenly
perceiving that the chair next to his was empty, he
exclaimed furiously: "Who else has bolted? It
is Denis Banfy who has bolted now, I know it is.
What has become of Denis Banfy, I say?"
The gentlemen were all silent ; only Teleki was
able to reply :
u Denis Banfy is dead. 19
"Dead?" inquired Apafi, "how did he die?"
" Paul B&di formed a league against him and he
was beheaded."
" B£ldi ? M cried Apafi, rising from his seat in blind
rage, " and where is that man ? "
" He is in a dungeon at present, but it will not be
long before he sits on the throne of the Prince."
" On the scaffold, you mean ! " thundered Apafi,
beside himself, in a bloodthirsty voice, "on the
scaffold, not the throne. I'll show that crafty
Szekler who I am if he raises his head against me.
Call hither the protonotarius, the law must be
enforced."
" The sentences are now ready, sir," said Nalaczi,
drawing from his pocket three documents of equal
size ; " only your signature is required."
He was also speedily provided with ink and a
pen, which they thrust into the trembling hand of
the Prince, indicating to him at the same time the
place on the document where he was to sign his
name. The thing was done.
"Is there any stranger among us?" asked Teleki,
looking suspiciously around.
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*7° THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
• Only the fool, but he doesn't count"
The fool at that moment was making a sword
dance on the tip of his nose, and on the sword he had
put a plate, and he kept calling on the gentlemen
to look at him — he certainly had paid no attention
to what was going on at the table.
The three letters were three several commands. The
first was directed to Cserei, telling him to put the
prisoners to death at once ; the second was to the
provost-marshal, Zsigmond Boer, to the effect that
if Cserei showed any signs of hesitation he was to be
killed together with the gentlemen ; the third was to
the garrison of the fortress, impressing upon them
in case of any hesitation on the part of the provost
to make an end of him forthwith along with the
others. All three letters, sealed with yellow wax,
were handed over to Stephen Nalaczi, who, placing
them in his kalpag, pressed his kalpag down upon
his head and hastened quickly from the room. He
had to pass close to the jester on his way out, and
the fool, rushing upon him, exclaimed. " O ho ! you
have got on my kalpag ; off with it, this is yours ! "
and before Nalaczi had recovered from his surprise
he found a cap and bells on his head instead of a
kalpag* s
The magnate considered this jest highly indecent,
and seized the jester by the throat.
"You scoundrel, you, where have you put my
kalpag ? Speak, or I'll throttle you."
" Don't throttle me, sir," said the jester apologeti-
cally, " for then you would be the biggest fool at the
court of the Prince."
"My kalpag!" cried Nalaczi furiously, * where
have you put it"
" I have swallowed it, sir."
" You worthless rascal," roared Nalaczi, throttling
the jester, "would you play your pranks with me !"
"Truly, sir, I shall not be able to bring it up
again if you press my throat like that"
" Stop, I mean to search you," said Nalaczi ; and
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OTHER TIMES— OTHER MEN. 271
he began to tear up the coat of the jester, whereupon
the kalpag came tumbling out from between its
folds. "You clumsy charlatan/ 9 laughed Nalaczi,
" well, you hid it very well, I must say." Then he
put on his kalpag again, in which were all three
letters well sealed with yellow wax, but he now
hastened outside as rapidly as possible in case the
fool should spirit them away again.
The same night he galloped to Fogaras, though it
cost him his horse to get there, summoned Cserei,
and giving him the letter addressed to him said :
M You, sir, are to execute this strict command to
the very letter."
The commandant took the letter, broke the seal,
and then looked at the magnate in amazement :
"I know not, sir, whether you or I have been
made a fool of— but there's not a scrap of writing in
this letter."
Nalaczi incredulously examined the letter. It was
a perfect blank. Hastily he broke open the other
two letters. In these also there was nothing but the
bare paper.
The fool, while the nobleman was throttling him,
had substituted blanks for the letters sent, and
sent the sentences the same evening to the Princess,
who thereby had discovered all that the Prince and
his councillors were doing.
In the morning the Princess went to Apafi with
the three sentences in her hand, and reproached him
for wanting to murder his ministers.
The worthy Prince was amazed at seeing these
orders signed by himself. He knew nothing about
it, and embracing lps wife, thanked her for watching
over him and not allowing him to send forth such
orders. As for Nalaczi, the shame of the thing
made it impossible for him to show himself at Court,
and he could only nourish a grudge against the fool.
This accident greatly upset the worthy Prince, and
he immediately rushed to release the captives. First
of all, however, they had to sign^eeds in which they
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27« THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
solemnly engaged not to seek to revenge themselves
on their accusers.
Paul Bdldi was wounded to the heart, but he
regarded this calamity as a just retribution for having
been the first to sign the league* against Denis
Banfy; it was a weapon which now recoiled upon
himself.
But this private grief was the least of his
misfortunes, for while Paul B&ldi and Nicholas
Bethlen had been sitting in their dungeon the war
party had had a free hand, so that when the two
gentlemen were released they were astounded to
learn from their partisans that only the sanction of
the Divdn was now necessary for a rupture of the
peace.
Bdldi perceived that to remain silent any longer
would be equivalent to looking on while the State
rushed to its destruction. He immediately assembled
all those who were of the same opinion as himself—
Ladislaus Csaky, John Haller, George Kapy —
and consulted with them as to the future of the
realm.
B£ldi opined throughout that the Prince should be
spared, but he was to be compelled to dismiss such
councillors as Teleki, Szekely, Mikes, and Nalaczi,
and form a new council of state. Kapy would have
done more than this. " If we want as much as that,"
said he, "it would be better to declare ourselves
openly ; and if we draw the sword, we shall have no
need to petition, but can fight, and whoever wins let
him profit by it and become Prince."
" No ! " said B^ldi, " I have swfrrit allegiance to the
Prince, and though I love my country, and am
prepared to fight for it, yet I will never break my
oath. My proposition is that we assemble in arms at
the Diet which is convened to meet at Nagy-Sink,
together with the Szekler train-bands, and if we show
our strength the Prince assuredly will not hesitate to
• Sec "'Midst the Wild Carpathians," Book II., Chapter VIL
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OTHER TIMES— OTHER MEN. 273
change his counsellors, for I know him to be a good
man who rather fears than loves them."
The gentlemen present accepted Beldi's proposi-
tion.
"Then here I will leave your Excellencies," said
Kapy, stiffly buttoning his mente * " I am not afraid
of war, for there I see my enemy before me, and can
fight him ; but I do not like these armed appeals, for
they are apt to twist a man's sword from his hand
and turn it against his own neck."
And he withdrew. The other gentlemen resolved,
however, that they would all arm their retainers. At
a word from Beldi the armed Szeklers of Haromsz6k,
Csik, and Udvarhelyszek rose at once ; they were
ready at an hour's notice to rise in obedience to the
command of their generalissimo.
The news of this audacious insurrection reached
Michael Teleki at Gernyizea who was beside him-
self with joy, well aware that Beldi was not the sort of
man who was likely to prevail in a civil war whilst the
contrary case would bring about his ruin, as he had
now gone too far to draw back again. He imme-
diately hastened to the Prince and, arousing him
from his bed, told him that B61di had risen against
him, and so terrified Apafi that he immediately got
into his coadh, and fled by torchlight to Fogaras.
Gregory Bethlen, Farkas^ and the other counsellors
also took to their heels in a panic — only Teleki
remained cool He knew the character of B61di too
well to be afraid of him.
So the spark of ambition and rage was kindled in
Paul B61di s heart, and for some days it looked as if
he would be the master of Transylvania, for nothing
could resist him with the Szekler bands at his side,
and all the regular troops were scattered amongr the
frontier fortresses.
But B61di thought it enough to show his weapons
without letting them be felt Instead of a declaration
* Far pelisse
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274 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
of war he sent a manifesto full of loyalty to the
Prince, in which he assured his Highness that he
had taken up arms not against his Highness but in
the name of the state ; all he demanded was that the
counsellors of the Prince should be tried by the laws
of the realm.
Whilst this wild missive was on its way, Teleki had
had time to call together the troops from the frontier
fortresses, and send orders to those of the Szeklers
who had not risen to assemble under Clement Mikes
in defence of the Prince ; and While Beldi awaited an
attack, he proceeded to take the offensive against him
at once.
One day B61di was sitting in the castle of Bodola
along with Ladislaus Csdky, when news was brought
them that Gregory Bethlen, with the army of the
Prince, was already before Kronstadt
" War can no longer be avoided," sighed Csiky.
" We can avoid it if we lay down our arms/'
returned B61di
" Surely you do not think of that? " inquired Csdky
in alarm.
" Why should I not? I will take no part in a civil
war.
" Then we are lost*
" Rather we shall save thousands."
The same day he ordered his forces to disperse and
return home.
The next day Gregory Bethlen sent Michael Vay
to Bodola, who brought with him the Prince's pardon.
CsAky ground his teeth together. It occurred to
him that he had got Denis Banfy beheaded, yet he
too had received a pardon, and he inquired of Vay in
some alarm : u Can we really rely on this letter of
pardon?"
Michael Vay was candid enough to reply : n Well,
my dear brethren, though you had a hundred pardons
it would be as well if you courageously resolved to
quit Transylvania notwithstanding."
Csdky gave not another moment's thought to the
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OTHER TIMES— OTHER MEN. 275
matter, but packed up his trunks, and while it was
still daylight escaped through the Bozza Pass
B61di decided to remain; shame prevented him
from flying.
Nevertheless, Michael Vay told his wife and
diildren of his danger and they insisted, supplicating
him on their knees, that he should hasten away and
save himself.
"And what about you?" asked Beldi, looking at
his tearful family.
He had two handsome sons, and his daughter
Aranka had grown up a lovely damsel ; she was the
apple of her father's eye, his pride and his glory.
"What about you?" he asked with a troubled
voice.
" You can more easily defend us at Stambul than
here, 1 ' said Dame B61di ; and Beldi saw that that was
a word spoken in seasoa
That word changed his resolve, for, indeed, by
seeking a refuge at the Porte, he would be able to
help himself and his family much more, and perhaps
even give a better turn to the fortunes of his country.
There, too, many of the highest viziers were his
friends who had very great influence in affairs.
He immediately had his horse saddled, and after
taking leave of his family with the utmost confidence,
he escaped through the Bozza Pass the same night
with an escort of a few chosen servants into
Wallachia, where he found many other fugitive
colleagues, and with them he took refuge at the
Porte — then the highest court of appeal for
Transylvania.
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CHAPTER XXIL
THE DIvXn.
The gates of the seraglio were thrown wide open, the
discordant, clanging, and ear-piercing music was put
to silence by a thundering roll of drums, and twelve
mounted cavasses with great trouble and difficulty
began clearing a way for the corps of viziers among
the thronging crowd, belabouring all they met in their
path with stout cudgels and rhinoceros whips. The
indolent, gaping crowd saw that it was going to be
flogged, yet didn't stir a step to get out of the reach
of the whips and bludgeons.
The members of the Divdn dismounted from their
horses in the courtyard and ascended the steps, which
were guarded by a double row of Janissaries with
drawn scimitars, the blue and yellow curtains of the
assembly hall of the Div&n were drawn aside before
them, and the mysterious inner chamber — the hearth
and home of so much power and splendour, once upon
a time — lay open before them.
It was a large octagonal chamber without any of
those adornments forbidden by the Koran ; its marble
pavement covered by oriental carpets, its walls to the
height of a man's stature inlaid with mother-o'-pearL
Along the walls were placed a simple row of low sofas
covered with red velvet and without back-rests, behind
them was a pillared niche concealing a secret door
where Amurath was wont to listen unperceived to
the consultations of his councillors.
Through the parted curtains passed the members
of the Council of the Divdn. First of all came the
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THE DIVAN. J77
Grand Vizier, a tall, dry man with rounded projecting
shoulders ; his head was constantly on the move and
his eyes peered now to the right and now to the left
as if he were perpetually watching and examining
something. His brown, mud-coloured face wore an
expression of perpetual discontent ; every glance was
full of scorn, rage, and morbid choler ; when he spoke
he gnashed his black teeth together through which
he seemed to filter his voice ; and his face was never
for an instant placid, at one moment he drew down
his eyebrows till his eyes were scarce visible, at the
next instant he raised them so that his whole forehead
became a network of wrinkles and the whites of his
eyes were visible ; the corners of his mouth twitched,
his chin waggled, his beard was thin and rarely
combed, and the only time he ever smiled was when
he saw fear on the face of the person whom he was
addressing; finally, his robes hung about him so
slovenly that despite the splendid ornaments with
which they were plastered he always looked shabby
and sordid.
After the Grand Vizier came Kiuprile, a full-
bodied, red-faced Pasha, with a beard sprawling down
to his knees ; the broad sword which hung by his
side raised the suspicion that the hand that was wont
to wield it was the hand of no weakling ; his voice
resembled the roar of a buffalo, so deep, so rumbling
was it that when he spoke quietly it was difficult to
understand him, while on the battle-field you could
hear him above the din of the guns.
Among the other members of the Divin there were
three other men worthy of attention.
The first was Kucsuk Pasha, a muscular, martial
man ; his sunburnt faoe was seamed with scars, his
eyes were as bright and as black as an eagle's ; his
whole bearing, despite his advanced age, was valiant
and defiant ; he carried his sword in his left hand ;
his walk, his pose, his look were firm ; he was slow
to speak, and rapid in action.
Beside him stood his son, Feriz Beg, the sharer of
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*?S THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
his father's dangers and glory, a tall, handsome youth
in a red caftan and a white turban with a heron's
plume.
Last of all came the Sultan's Christian doctor, the
court interpreter, Alexander Maurocordato, a tall,
athletic man, in a long, ample mantle of many folds ;
his long, bright, black beard reaches almost to his
girdle, his features have the intellectual calm of the
ancient Greek type, his thick black hair flows down
on both shoulders in thick locks.
The viziers took their places; the Sultan's divan
remains vacant ; nearest to it sits the Grand Vizier ;
farther back sit the pashas, agas, and begs.
"Most gracious sir," said Maurocordato, turning
towards the Grand Vizier, " the poor Magyar gentle-
men have been waiting at thy threshold since
dawn."
The Grand Vizier gazed venomously at the inter-
preter, protruding his head more than ever.
" Let them wait 1 It is more becoming that they
should wait for us than we for them."
And with that he beckoned to the chief of the
cavasses to admit the petitioners.
The refugees were twelve in number, and the chief
cavasse, drawing aside the curtains from the door of
an adjoining room, at once admitted them. Foremost
among them was Paul B&di, the others entered with
anxious faces and unsteady, hesitating footsteps ; he
alone was brave, noble, and dignified His gentle,
large blue eyes ran over the faces of those present,
and his appearance excited general sympathy.
Only the Grand Vizier regarded him with a look of
truculent indifference — it was his usual expression,
and he knew no other.
"Fear not!— open your hearts freely!" signified
the Grand Vizier.
Bfldi stepped forward, and bowed before the Grand
Vizier. One of the Hungarians approached still
nearer to the Vizier and kissed his hand ; the others
were prevented from doing the same by the interven-
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THE DIVAN. a79
tion of Maurocordato, who at the same time beckoned
to B&di to speak without delay.
a Your Excellencies ! " began B£ldi, * our sad fate is
already well-known to you, as fugitives from our native
land we come to you, as beggars we stand before you ;
but not as fugitives, not as beggars do we petition you
at this moment, but as patriots. We have quitted our
country not as traitors, not as rebels, but because we
would save it The Prince is rushing headlong into
destruction, carrying the country along with him.
His chief counsellor lures him on with the promise of
the crown of Hungary in the hope that he himself
will become the Palatine. Your excellencies are
aware what would be the fate of Hungary after such
a war. A number of the great men of the realm
joined me in a protest against this policy. We knew
what we were risking. For some years past I have
been one of those who disapproved of an offensive
war — we are the last of them, the rest sit in a
shameful dungeon, or have died a shameful death.
Once upon a time, as happy fathers of families, we
dwelt by our own firesides; now our wives and
children are cast into prison, our castles are rooted
up, our escutcheons are broken ; but we do not ask
of you what we have lost personally, we ask not for
the possession of our pr6perties, we ask not for the
embraces of our wives and children, we do not even
ask to see our country; we are content to die as
beggars and outcasts; we only petition for the
preservation of the life of the fatherland which has
cast us forth, and which is rushing swiftly to
destruction — hasten ye to save it"
Kucsuk Pasha, who well understood Hungarian,
angrily clapped his hand upon his sword, half drew
it and returned it to its sheath again. Feriz Beg
involuntarily wiped away a tear from his eyes.
" Gracious sirs," continued B^ldi, " we do not wish
you to be wrath with the Prince for the tears and the
blood that have been shed ; we only ask you to
provide the Prince with better counsellors than those
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280 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH,
by whom he is now surrounded, binding them by
oath to satisfy the nation and the Grand Seignior,
for none will break such an oath lightly and with
impunity; and these new counsellors will constrain
him to be a better father to those who remain in the
cbuntry than he was to us."
When B£ldi had finished, Maurocordato came for-
ward, took his place between the speaker and the
Grand Vizier, and began to interpret the words of
B&di.
At the concluding words the face of the interpreter
flushed brightly, his resonant, sonorous voice filled the
room, his soul, catching the expression of his face,
changed with his changing feelings. Where B61di
calmly and resignedly had described his sufferings,
the voice of the interpreter was broken and tremulous.
Where B6\di had sketched the future in a voice of
solemn conviction, Maurocordato assumed a tone of
prophetic inspiration ; and finally, when in words of
self-renunciation he appealed for the salvation of his
country, his oratory became as penetrating, as bitterly
ravishing, as if his speech were the original instead of
the copy. Passion in its ancient Greek style, the
style of Demosthenes, seemed to have arisen from the
dead.
The listening Pashas seemed to have caught the
inspiration of his enthusiasm, and bent their heads
approvingly. The Grand Vizier contracted his eye-
lids, puckered up his lips, and hugging his caftan to
his breast, began to speak, at the same time gazing
around abstractedly with prickling eyes, every moment
beating down the look of whomsoever he addressed
or glaring scornfully at them. His screeching voice,
which he seemed to strain through his lips, produced
an unpleasant impression on those who heard it for
the first time ; while his features, which seemed to
express every instant anger, rage, and scorn in an
ascending scale, accentuated by the restless panto-
mime of his withered, tremulous hand, could not but
make those of the Magyars who were ignorant of
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THE DIVXN. 281
Turkish imagine that the Grand Vizier was atrociously
scolding them, and that what he said was nothing but
the vilest abuse from beginning to end.
Mr. Ladislaus Csaky, who was standing beside
Paul B&di, plucked his fur mantle and whispered in
his ear with a tremulous voice :
"You have ruined us. Why did you not speak
more humbly ? He is going to impale the whole lot
of us."
The Vizier, as usual, concluded his speech with a
weary smile, drew back his mocking lips, and exposed
his black, stumpy teeth. The heart's blood of the
Magyars began to grow cold at that smilq,
Then Maurocordato came forward. A gentle smile
of encouragement illumined his noble features, and
he began to interpret the words of the Grand Vizier :
u Worshipful Magyars, be of good cheer. I have
compassion on your petition, your righteousness
stands before us brighter than the noonday sun, your
griefs shall have the fullest remedy. Ye did well to
supplicate the garment of the Sublime Sultan ; cling
fast to the folds of it, and no harm shall befall you.
Now depart in peace ; if we should require you again,
we will send for you."
Everyone breathed more easily. B^ldi thanked
the Vizier in a few simple sentences, and they
prepared to withdraw.
But Ladislaus Csaky, who was much more in-
terested in his S6va property than in the future of
Transylvania, and to whom B£ldi's petition, which
only sought the salvation of the fatherland, and said
nothing about the restitution of confiscated estates,
appeared inadequate, scarce waited for his turn to
speak, and, what is more, threw himself at the feet of
the Vizier, seized one of them, which he embraced,
and began to weep tremendously. Indeed, his words
were almost unintelligible for his weeping, and Mr.
Csaky's oratory was always difficult to understand at
the best of times, so that it was no wonder that the
Grand Vizier lost his usual phlegm and now began
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28a THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
to curse and swear in real earnest; till the other
Magyar gentlemen rushed up, tore Csaky away by
force, while Maurocordato angrily pushed them all
out, and thus put an end to the scandalous scene.
"If you kneel before a man," said B&di, walking
beside him, " at least do not weep like a child."
Before B&di could reach the door he felt his hand
warmly pressed by another hand. He looked in that
direction, and there stood Feriz.
"Did you say that your wife was a captive?'*
asked the youth with an uncertain voice.
" And my child also."
The face of Feriz flushed.
" I will release them," he said impetuously. B£ldi
seized his hand. " Wait for me at the entrance."
The Hungarian refugees withdrew, everyone of
them weaving for himself fresh hopes from the
assurances of the Vizier. Only Ladislaus was not
content with the result, and going to his quarters he
immediately sat down and wrote two letters, one to
the general of the Kaiser, and the other to the
minister of the King of France, to both of whom he
promised everything they could desire if they would
help forward his private affairs, thinking to himself
if the Sultan does not help me the Kaiser will, and
if both fail me I can fall back upon the French King ;
at any rate a man ought to make himself safe all
round.
Scarce had the refugees quitted the Divin when an
Aga entered the audience-chamber and announced :
" The Magyar lords."
"What Magyar lords? " cried the Grand Vizier.
" Those whom the Prince has sent."
"They're in good time!" said the Vizier, "show
them in ; " and he at once fell into a proper pose,
reserving for them his most venomous expression.
The curtains were parted, and the Prince's embassy
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THE DIVAN. 283
appeared, bedizened courtly folks in velvet with
amiable, simpering faces. Their spokesman, Farkas
Bethlen, stood in the very place where Paul B6ldi
had stood an hour before, in a velvet mantle trimmed
with swan's-down, a bejewelled girdle worthy of a
hero, and a sword studded with turquoises, the
magnificence of his appointments oddly contrasting
with his look of abject humility.
" Well ! what do ye want? Out with it quickly ! "
snapped the Grand Vizier, with an ominous air of
impatience.
Farkas Bethlen bent his head to his very knees,
and then he began to orate in the roundabout rhetoric
of those days, touching upon everything imaginable
except the case in point
14 Most gracious and mighty, glorious and victorious
Lords, dignified Grand Vizier, unconquerable Pashas,
mighty Begs' and Agas, most potent pillars of the
State, lords of the three worlds, famous and widely-
known heroes by land and sea, my peculiarly
benevolent Lords ! "
All this was merely prefatory !
Kiuprile began to perspire ; Kucsuk Pasha twirled
his sword upon his knee; Feriz Beg turned round
and contemplated the fountains of the Seraglio
through the window.
" Make haste, do I " interrupted Maurocordato im-
patiently ; whereupon Farkas Bethlen, imagining that
he had offended the interpreter by omitting him from
the exordium, turned towards him with a supple-
mentary compliment :
"Great and wise interpreter, most learned and
extraordinarily to be respected court physician of
the most mighty Sultan 1 "
Kiuprile yawned so tremendously that the girdle
round his big body burst in two.
Farkas Bethlen, however, did not let himself be put
out in the least, but continued his oration.
"Our worthy Prince, his Highness Michael Apafi,
has been much distressed to learn that those seditious
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384 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
rebels who have dared to raise their evil heads, not
only against the Prince but against the Sublime
Porte also, as represented in his person, in con-
sequence of the frustration of their plans, have
fled hither to damage the Prince by their false-
hoods and insinuations. Nevertheless, although our
worthy Prince is persuaded that the wisdom of your
Excellencies must needs confute their lying words,
your goodwill confound their devices, and your
omnipotence chastise their audacity, nevertheless it
hath also seemed good to his Highness to send us
to your Excellencies in order that we may refute
all these complaints and accusations whereby they
would falsely, treacherously and abominably disturb
the realm . . ."
Maurocordato here took advantage of a pause made
by the orator to take breath after this exordium, and
before he was able to proceed to the subject-matter
of his address, began straightway to interpret what
he had said so far for the benefit of the Grand
Vizier, being well aware that the Vizier would not
allow anyone to speak a second time before he had
spoken himself.
The speech of the interpreter was this time dry
and monotonous. All Farkas Bethlen's homiletical
energy was thrown away in Maurocordato's drawling,
indifferent reproduction.
The Grand Vizier replied with flashing eyes, his
face was twice as venomous as it had been before,
and his gestures plainly indicated an intention to
show the envoys the door.
Maurocordato interpreted his reply.
" The Grand Vizier says that not those whom ye
persecute but you yourselves are the rebels who have
broken the oath ye made to the Sublime Porte,
inasmuch as your ambitious projects aim at the
separation of Transylvania from its dependence on
the Porte and at the conquest of Hungary — both
sure ways of destruction for yourselves. Wherefore
the Grand Vizier gives you to understand that if you
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THE DIVAN. 285
cannot sit still and live in peace with your own
fellow-countrymen, he will send to you an inter-
mediary, who will leave naught but tears behind
him.*
The Hungarian gentlemen regarded each other in
astonishment Not a trace of simpering amiability
remained on the face of Farkas Bethlen, who was
furious at the failure of the speech he had so carefully
learnt by heart He bowed still deeper than before,
and sacrificing with extraordinary self-denial the
remainder of his oration, especially as he perceived
that any further parleying would not be permitted,
he had resort to more drastic expedients.
" Oh, sir ! how can such accusations affect us who
have always been willing faithfully to fulfil your
wishes? We pay tribute, we give gifts, and now
also our worthy Prince hath not sent us to you
empty-handed, having commanded Master Michael
Teleki not to neglect to provide us with suitable
gifts, who has, moreover, sent to your Excellencies
through me two hundred purses of money,* as a
token of his respect and homage, beseeching your
Excellencies to accept this little gift from us your
humble servants."
With these words the orator beckoned to one of
the deputation, at whose summons, four porters
appeared carrying between them, suspended on two
poles, a large iron chest, which Farkas Bethlen
opened, discharging its contents at the feet of the
Grand Vizier.
The jingling thalers fell in heaps around the Divdn,
and the sound of the rolling coins filled the room.
The features of the Grand Vizier suddenly changed.
Maurocordato stepped back. Bethlen's last words
had needed no interpreter ; the Vizier could not keep
back from his face a hideous smile, the grin of the
devil of covetousness. His eyes grew large and
round, he no longer clenched his teeth together, he
* Equivalent to 100,000 thalers.
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286 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
was rather like a wild beast eager to pounce upon
his prey.
Farkas Bethlen humbly withdrew among his
colleagues ; the Vizier could not resist the tempta-
tion, he descended from the Divin, rubbing his
hands, tapping the shoulders of the last speaker,
smiling at all the deputies, and even going so far as
to extend his hand to one or two of them, which
those fortunate beings hastened to kiss, and spoke
something to them in Turkish, to which they felt
bound to reply with profound obeisances.
During this scene Maurocordato had quitted the
DivAn, and as in default of an interpreter the envoys
were unable to understand the words of the Vizier,
and could only bow repeatedly, Kiuprile, who had
learnt Hungarian while he was Pasha of Eger, arose
and roared at them in a voice which made the very
ceiling shake :
"The Vizier bids you go to hell, ye dogs of
Giaours, and if we want you again we will send for
you 1 " Whereupon he gave a vicious kick at a thaler
which had rolled to his feet, while the deputies, after
innumerable salutations, left the Divin.
On the departure of the Prince's envoys, the Grand
Vizier immediately sent for B61di and his comrades.
When the refugees entered the Divin, not one of
them yet knew that the envoys of the Prince had
been there and brought the money which they saw
piled up before them, though they could not for
the life of them understand what the Grand Vizier
and themselves had to do with all that money;
and inasmuch as Maurocordato had also departed,
and the cavasses sent after him could not find him
anywhere, the Hungarians, in the absence of an
interpreter, stood there for some time in the utmost
doubt, striving to explain as best they could the
signification of the peculiar signs which the Grand
Vizier kept making to them from time to time,
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THE DIVXN. 287
pointing now at the heaps of money and now at
them, and expounding his sayings with all ten
fingers. Every time he glanced at the money he
could not restrain his disgusting, hyaena-like smile.
" Don't you see," whispered Csaky to B£ldi, " the
Grand Vizier intends all that money for us ? "
B£ldi could not help smiling at this artless opinion.
At last, as the interpreter did not come, Kiuprile
was constrained, very much against the grain, to
arise and interpret the wishes of the Grand Vizier as
best he could.
" Worthy sirs, this is what the Grand Vizier says
to you. The Prince's deputies have been here.
They ought to have their necks broken — that's what
/ say. They brought with them this sum of money,
and they said all sorts of things which are not true,
but the money which they brought is true enough.
Having regard to which the Grand Vizier says to
you that he recognises the justice of your cause and
approves of it, but the mere recognition of its justice
will make no difference to it, for it will remain just
what it was before. But if you would make your
righteous cause progress and succeed, promise him
seventy more purses than those of the Prince's
envoys, and then we will close with you. We will
then fling them into the Bosphorus sewn up in sacks,
but you we will bring back into your own land and
make you the lords of it"
A bitter smile crossed the lips of Paul Blldi, he
sighed sorrowfully, and looked back upon his
comrades.
"You know right well, sir," said he to Kiuprile,
" that we have no money, nor do I know from whence
to get as much as you require, and my colleagues are
as poor as I am. We never used the property of the
State as a means of collecting treasures for ourselves,
and what little remained to us from our ancestors
has already been divided among the servants of the
Prince. We have no money wherewith to buy us
justice, and if there be no other mode of saving our
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country, then in God's name dismiss us and we will
throw ourselves at the feet of some foreign Prince,
and supplicate till we find one who must listen to us.
God be with you ; money we have none."
a Then I have ! * cried a voice close beside B£ldi ;
and, looking in that direction, they saw Kucsuk
Pasha approach Paul Blldi and warmly press the
right hand of the downcast Hungarian gentleman.
" If you want two hundred and seventy purses I will
give it ; if you want as much again I will give it ; as
much as you want you shall have; bargain with
them, fix your price ; I am here. I will pay instead
of you."
Feriz Beg rushed towards his father, and, full of
emotion, hid his face in his bosom. B£ldi majestically
clasped the hand of the old hero, and was scarce
able to find words to express his gratitude at this
offer.
" I thank you, a thousand times I thank you, but I
cannot accept it ; that would be a debt I should
never be able to repay, nor my descendants after me.
Blessed are you for your good will, but you cannot
help me that way."
Kiuprile intervened impatiently.
" Be sensible, Paul B£ldi, and draw not upon thee
my anger; weigh well thy words, and hearken to
good counsel. To demand so much money from
thee as a private man in exile would be a great folly,
but assume that thou art a Prince, and that this
amount, which it would be impossible to drag out
of one pocket, could easily be distributed over a
whole kingdom and not be felt Do no more then
than promise us the amount ; it is not necessary that
thou shouldst pay us before we have made thee
Prince."
B£ldi shuddered, and said to Kiuprile with a
quavering voice:
" I do not understand you, sir, or else I have not
heard properly what you said."
"Then understand me once for alL If it be true
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THE DIVAN.. 289
what thou sayest — to wit, that the present Prince of
Transylvania rules amiss, why then, depose him from
his Principality; and if it also be true what thou
sayest — to wit, that thou dost love thy country so
much and seest what ought to be done — why then,
defend it thyself. I will send a message to the
frontier Pashas, and they will immediately declare
war upon this state, seize Master Michael Apafi and
all his counsellors, clap them into the fortress of
Jedikula, and put thee and thy comrades in their
places. Thou art only to promise the Grand Vizier
two hundred and seventy purses, and he will engage
to make thee Prince as soon as possible, and then
thou wilt be able to pay it; which, if thou dost
refuse, of a truth I tell thee, that I will clap thee
into Jedikula in the place of Michael Apafi."
The heart of Paul B61di beat violently throughout
this speech. His emotion was visible in his face,
and more than once he would have interrupted
Kiuprile if the Hungarian gentlemen had not res-
trained him. When, however, Kiuprile had finished
his speech, Paul B£ldl took a step forward, and
proudly raising his head so that he seemed to be
taller than usual, he replied in a firm, strong voice :
" I thank you, gracious sir, for your offer, but I
cannot accept it A sacred oath binds me to the
present Prince of Transylvania, and if he has for-
gotten the oath which he swore to the nation it is no
answer to say that we should also violate ours, nay,
rather should we remind him of his. I have raised
my head to ask for justice, not to pile one injustice
upon another. Transylvania needs not a new Prince,
but its old liberties; and if I had only wanted to
make war upon the Prince, the country would rise at
a sign from me, the whole of the Szeklers would draw
their swords for me, but it was I who made them
sheath their swords again. I do not come to the
Porte for vengeance, but for judgment ; not my own
fate, but the fate of my country I submit to your
Excellencies. I do not want the office of Prince. I
T
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290 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
do not want to drive out one usurper only to bring in
a hundred more. I will not set all Transylvania in a
blaze for the sake of roasting Master Michael Teleki,
nor for the sake of freeing a dozen people from a
shameful dungeon will I have ten thousand dragged
into captivity. May I suffer injustice rather than all
Transylvania. Accursed should I be, and all my
posterity with me, if I were to sell my oppressed
nation for a few pence and bring armies against my
native land As to your threats — I am prepared for
anything, for prison, for death. I came to you for
justice, slay me if you wilL"
Kiuprile, disgusted, flung himself back on his
divan; he did not count upon such opposition, he
was not prepared for such strength of mind. The
other gentlemen who, from time to time, had fled to
the Porte from Transylvania had been wont to beg
and pray for the very favour which this man so nobly
rejected.
The Grand Vizier, perceiving from the faces of
those present the impression made on them by
B£ldi's speech, turned now to the right and now to
the left for an explanation, and dismay gfadually
spread over his pallid face as he began to understand.
Blldi's colleagues, pale and utterly crushed, awaited
the result of his alarming reply ; while Ladislaus
Csaky, unable to restrain his dismay, rushed up to
B6idi, flung himself on his neck in his despair, and
implored him by heaven and earth to accept the
offer of the Grand Vizier.
If the offer had been made to him he would most
certainly have accepted it.
* Never, never," replied B£ldi, as cold as marble.
The other gentlemen knelt down before him, and
with clasped hands besought him not to make him-
self, his children, and themselves for ever miserable.
" Arise, I am not God ! " said B61di, turning from
his tearful colleagues.
The Grand Vizier, on understanding what it was
all about, leaped furiously from his place, and tearing
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THE DIVAN. 391
off his turban, hurled it in uncontrollable rage to the
ground, exclaiming with foaming mouth : " Hither,
cavasses I "
" Put that accursed dog in chains ! " he screeched,
pointing with bloodshot eyes at Bfldi, who quietly
permitted them to load him with fetters weighing
half-a-hundredweight each, which the army of slaves
always had in readiness.
" Wouldst thou speak, puppy of a giaour ? " cried
the Vizier, when he was already chained.
" What I have said I stand to," solemnly replied
the patriot, raising his chained hand to Heaven.
" God is my refuge."
"To the dungeon with him!" yelled Kara
Mustafa, beckoning to the drabants to drag Beldi
away.
Just as a hard stone emits sparks when it is struck,
so B£Idi turned suddenly upon the Vizier and said,
shaking his chains. " Thine hour will also strike ! "
Then he suffered them to lead him away to prison.
Immediately afterwards, the Grand Vizier sent for
the envoys of the Prince, and commending them
and those who sent them, gave each of them a new
caftan, and with the most gracious assurances sent
them back to their native land, where nevertheless
Master Farkas Bethlen had never been accounted a
very great orator.
In the gates of the Seraglio the dismissed envoys
encountered Master Ladislaus Csaky. The worthy
gentleman at once perceived from their self-satisfied
smiles and the new caftans they were wearing that
they had been sent away with a favourable reply ;
whereupon, notwithstanding that he had already
agreed with Paul Beldi to render homage to the
French and German Ministers, he did not consider it
superfluous to pay his court to Master Farkas
Bethlen also, and offer to surrender himself body and
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292 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
soul if the Prince would agree to pardon him and
restore his estates.
Farkas Bethlen accepted the proposal and not
only promised Csaky an amnesty, but high office to
boot if he would separate from B&di ; nay, he
rewarded on the spot that gentleman who had thus
very wisely fastened the threads of his fate to four
several places at the same time, so that if one of
them broke he could still hold on to the other three.
"B61di has ruined his affairs utterly" said Kucsuk
Pasha to his son, as they retired from the Divdn ; " I
give up every idea of saving him."
" I don't," sighed Feriz, *• I'll either save or perish
with him."
4 Let us go to Maurocordato, he may perhaps
advise us."
After an hour's interview with Maurocordato, Feriz
Beg, with fifty armed Albanian horsemen, took the
road towards Grosswardein.
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CHAPTER XXIII.
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IN the gate of the Pasha of Grosswardein, amidst the
gaping throng of armed retainers there, could be seen
a pale wizened Moslem idly sprawling on the threshold,
apparently regardless of everything, but sometimes
looking up, cat-like, with half-shut, dreamy eyes, and
at such times he would smile craftily to himself.
Suddenly a handsome, chivalrous youth galloped
out of the gate before whom the soldiers bowed down
to the earth ; this was the Pasha's favourite horseman,
Feriz Beg, who had just arrived from Stambul.
The Beg, as if he had only by accident caught sight
of the sprawling Moslem, turned towards him, tapped
him on the shoulder with his lance, and while the
latter, feigning ignorance and astonishment, gazed up
at him, he drew nearer to him and said :
* What Zulfikar ! dost thou not recognise me ? w
The person so addressed bowed himself to the earth.
" Allah is gracious ! By the soul of the Prophet, is
it thou, gracious sir?" and with that he got up and
began walking by the side of the horse of the Beg,
who beckoned him to follow.
M I have lost a good deal of money and a good
many horses over the dice-box at Stambul, Ziilfikar,"
said Feriz Beg, " so I have come into these parts to
rehabilitate my purse a little. Where dost thou go
a-robbing now, Zulfikar ? n
"La illah, il Allah! God is gracious and
Mohammed is His holy Prophet," said Zulfikar,
rolling his eyes heavenwards.
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«94 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH
tt
'A truce to this piety, Zulfikar; ye renegades,
with unendurable shamelessness, are always glorifying
the Prophet, born Turks don't mention him half as
much. What I ask thee is, where dost thou go
a-plundering now of nights ? "
41 1 thank thee, gracious sir," answered Zulfikar,
making a wooden picture of his face, " my wife is
quite well, and there is nothing amiss with me
either."
" Zulfikar, I value in thee that peculiarity of thine
which enables thee to become deaf whenever thou
desirest it, but I possess a very good remedy for that
evil, and if thou wilt I will cure thee of it"
Zulfikar dodged the lance which was turned in his
direction, and said with a Pharisaical air :
" What does your honour deign to inquire of me ? "
" Didst thou hear what I said to thee just now ?"
" Dost thou mean : where I went robbing ? I swear
by the beard of the Prophet that I go nowhither for
such a purpose."
" I know very well, thou cat, that thou goest no-
whither where there is trouble, but thou dost ferret
out where a fat booty lies hidden, and thou leadest
our Spahis on the track of it, wherefore they give thee
also a portion of it ; so answer me at once whom thou
art wont to visit at night, as otherwise I shall open a
hole in thy head."
" But, sir, betray me not ; for the Spahis would tie
me to a horse's tail and the Pasha would impale me.
Thou knowest that he does not allow robbery, but if
it happens he looks through his fingers."
M So far from betraying thee I would go with thee,
I only know one mode of getting hold of booty.
While the others storm a village, I stand a little
distance off at the farther end of the village ; whoever
has anything to save always makes for the farther end
of the village, and so falls into my hands."
The renegade began to feel in his element
" My good sir, at night the Spahis will go to Elesd.
There dwell rich Wallachians away from the high
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THE TURKISH DEATH. 295
road. They have never had blackmail levied on them
and there's lots of gold and silver there ; if we get a
good haul, do not betray me.' 1
"But may we not fall in with the soldiers of
LadislausSz6kely? M
" Nay, sir/' said Zulfikar, winking his eyes, " they
are far . from here. Do not betray thy faithful
servant"
Feriz Beg put spurs to his horse and galloped off.
Zulfikar sat down in the gate again, very sleepily
blinking his eyes, and smiling mysteriously.
Towards evening four-and-twenty Spahis crept out
of the fortress and made off in the direction of £lesd
Feriz Beg kept an eye upon them, and when they
had disappeared in the woods he aroused his Albanian
horsemen and quietly went after them.
It was past midnight when Feriz Beg and his
company reached the hillside covering Elesd The
Spahis had already plundered the place as was
evident from the distant uproar, the loud shrieks, the
pealing of bells, and a couple of flaming haystacks
which the mauraders had set on fire to assist their
operations.
Feriz Beg posted his Albanian horsemen at the
mouth of a narrow pass, divided them into four bands
and ordered them all to remain as quiet as possible
and wait patiently till the Spahis returned.
After some hours of plundering the distant tumult
died away, and instead of it could be heard approach-
ing a sound of loud wrangling. Presently, in the
deep valley below, the Spahis became visible, stagger-
ing under the stolen goods, dispersed into twos and
threes and quarrelling together over their booty.
Feriz Beg let them come into the narrow pass and
when they were quite unsuspiciously at the height of
their dispute, he suddenly blew his horn and then
suddenly fell upon them from all sides with his
Albanian horsemen, surrounded and attacked the
marauders, and before they had had time to use their
weapons began to cut them down. The tussle was a
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short one. Not one of the Albanians fell, not one of
the Spahis escaped.
Feriz dried his sword and leaving the dead Spahis
on the road, galloped back with his band to Gross- '
wardein.
In the Pasha's gate he again encountered Ziilfikar
and, shaking his fist at turn, dismounted from his
horse.
"Thou dog! thou hast betrayed us to Ladislaus
Sz&cely ; the Spahis have all been cut down."
Ziilfikar turned yellow with fear. It is true that he
usually did something like this: when the Spahis
would only promise him a small portion of the booty,
he would for a few ducats extra let the Hungarian
generals know of their coming, when one or two of
them would bite the dust and the rest return without
the booty. Last night also he had told the captain
of Klausenberg of this particular adventure, but the
commandant had been unable to make any use of
it, for it had been the Prince's birthday, and he had
been obliged to treat the soldiers.
Ziilfikar felt a lump in his throat when he heard
that all twenty-four of the Spahis had perished, and
he immediately quitted the fortress and made his way
to Klausenberg through the woods as hard as he
could pelt.
Feriz Beg, however, in great wrath, paid a visit
upon the Pasha
* " Your Excellency," said he, assuming a very severe
countenance, "this is the sort of allies we have.
Last night 1 went on an excursion, taking four-and-
twenty Spahis with me, in order to purchase horses
for myself in the neighbourhood. We dealt honour-
ably with the dealers. I entrusted the horse* to the
Spahis and myself galloped on in front In a narrow
pass the soldiers of Ladislaus Szlkely laid an ambush
for the Spahis, surrounded them and cut them off to
a man. When I came to their assistance there they
were all lying slain and the slayers had trotted off on
my own good steeds. Most gracious sir, that is
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THE TURKISH DEATH. 297
treachery, our own allies do us a mischief. I will not
put up with it, but if thou dost not give me complete
satisfaction, I will go myself to Klausenberg and put
every one of them to the sword, from Master Michael
Apafi down to Master Ladislaus Sz&cely."
Ajas Pasha, whose special favourite Feriz Beg was,
laughed loudly at this demonstration, patted the
youth's cheek, and said in a consolatory voice :
" Nay, my dear son, do not so, nor waste the fire of
thy enthusiasm upon these infidels. I have a short
method of doing these things — leave it to me."
And thereupon he sent for an aga, and gave him a
command in the following terms :
" Sit on thy horse and go quickly to Klausenberg.
There go to the commandant, Ladislaus Sz6kely, and
speak to him thus : Ajas Pasha wishes thee good-day,
thou unbelieving giaour, and sends thee this message :
Inasmuch as thy dog-headed servants during the
night last past have treacherously fallen upon the
men of Feriz Beg and cut down four-and-twenty of
them, now therefore I require of thee to search for
and send me instantly these murderers, otherwise the
whole weight of my wrath shall descend upon thine
own head. Moreover, in the place of the horses stolen
from him, see that thou send to me without delay just
as many good chargers of Wallachia, and beware lest
I come for them myself, for then thou wilt have no
cause to thank me."
When the aga had learnt the message by heart
he withdrew, and Ajas Pasha turned to Feriz Beg
complacently :
"Trouble not thyself further," said he, "in a couple
of days the murderers will be here."
" I want the Prince to intercede for them himself/ 1
said Feriz Beg.
"And dost thoU not believe then that the little
finger of the Sublime Porte is able to give thee the
lives of a few giaour hirelings, when it sends forth
thousands to perish on the battle-field?"
" And I will venture to bet a hundred ducats that
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393 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
Master Ladislaus Sz£kely will reply that his soldiers
were not out of the fortress at all last night"
" I am sorry for thy hundred ducats, my dear son,
DUt I will take thy bet all the same ; and, if I lose, I
will cut just as many pieces out of the skin of Master
Ladislaus Sz£kely."
The terrified Zulfikar was almost at his last gasp
by the time he reached the courtyard of Master
Ladislaus Sz£kely, where, greatly exhausted, he
obtained an audience of the commandant, who was
resplendent in a great mantle trimmed with galloon
and adorned with rubies and emeralds. This love of
display was the good old gentleman's weak point.
He had the most beautiful collection of precious
stones in all Transylvania ; the nearest way to his
heart was to present him with a rare and beautiful
jewel.
He was engaged in furbishing up a necklace of
chrysoprases and jacinths with a hare's foot when the
renegade breathlessly rushed through the door unable
to utter a word for sheer weariness. Ladislaus
Sz6kely fancied that Zulfikar had come for the
reward of his treachery, and very bluntly hastened
to anticipate him.
" I was unable to make any use of your informa-
tion, Zulfikar ; it was the Prince's name-day, and the
soldiers were not at liberty to leave the town."
" How can your honour say so," stuttered Zulfikar ;
" you had four-and-twenty Spahis cut down at £lesd.
What fool told your honour to kill them? You
should merely have deprived them of their booty."
Ladislaus Sz£kely let fall his necklace in his fright
and gazed at the renegade with big round eyes.
" Don't be a fool, Zulfikar, my son ! Not a soul
was outside this fortress to-day or yesterday."
"Your honour has been well taught what to say,"
said the renegade, with the insolence of fury; "you
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THE TURKISH DEATH. 399
put on as innocent a face over the business as a new-
born lamb."
" I swear to you I don't understand a word of your
nonsense."
" Of course, of course ! Capital ! Excellent ! But
your honour would do well to keep these falsehoods
for the messengers of Ajas Pasha, who will be with
your honour immediately ; try and fool them if you
like, but don't fool me."
Ladislaus Sz£kely, well aware that every word
he said was the sacred truth, fancied that Ziilfikar's
assertion was only a rough joke which he wanted to
play upon him, so he cast an angry look on the
renegade.
" Be off, my son Zulfikar, and cease joking ; or 111
beat you about the head with this hare's foot till I
knock all the moonshine out of you."
"Your honour had best keep your hare's foot to
yourself, for if I draw my Turkish dagger I'll make
you carry your own head."
" Be off, be off, my son i " cried Szdkely, looking
around for a stick, and perceiving a cane in the
corner with a large silver knob he seized it " And
now are you going, or I shall come to you?" he
added.
Ziilfikar had just caught sight, meanwhile, through
the window of the aga sent by Ajas Pasha, and
fearing to encounter him, hastily skipped through the
door, which sudden flight was attributed by Master
Ladislaus Sz6kely to his own threats of violence.
He followed close upon the heels of the fugitive, and
ran almost into the very arms of the aga ; where-
upon, the aga, also flying into a rage, belaboured the
commandant with his fists, reviled his father, his
mother, and his remotest ancestry, and only after
that began to deliver the message of Ajas Pasha,
which he enlarged and embellished with the choicest
flowers of an angry man's rhetoric.
At these words Ladislaus Sz£kely changed colour
as often as a genuine opal, or as a fractured polyporus
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fungus. It was clear to him that someone or other
had just slain a number of marauding Spahis, but
he knew very well that neither he nor his men had
performed this heroic deed, for that particular evening
they had all been safe and sound at ten o'clock, and
yet he was expected to pay the piper !
" Gracious sir, unconquerable aga," he said at last,
"my men the whole of that evening were on duty
beneath the windows of the Prince, and the same
evening I myself closed the city gates, so that no
living thing except a bird could get out Therefore;
I pray you ask not of me the slayers of the Spahis,
for never in my life have I killed one of them."
The aga gnashed his teeth, and stared wildly
about, as if seeking for big words worthy of the
occasion.
" Darest thou say such things to me, thou wine-
drinking infidel ? " he cried at last " I know very
well that thou, single-handed, hast not cut down
four-and-twenty Spahis; rather do I believe there
were two thousand of you that fell upon them, but
these thou must give up to me, every man-jack of
them."
Large drops of perspiration began to ooze out
upon the forehead of the commandant, and in his
embarrassment it occurred to him that deeds were
better than words, so he seized the chain covered
with chrysoprases and jacinths, which he had just
been polishing, and handed them in a deprecating
manner to the Turk, knowing that such a line of
defence was most likely to obtain a hearing.
But the envoy gave the chain handed to him such
a kick that the precious stones were scattered all
over the deal boards, and, trampling them beneath
his feet, he roared with a blood-red face :
" I want the murderers, not your precious stones."
The commandant thereupon seeing that the aga's
embassy was really a serious matter, took him down
to the soldiers, who were drawn up in the courtyard,
in order to ask each one of them in the hearing of
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THE TURKISH DEATH. 301
the envoy : " Where were you during the night in
question ? M Naturally everyone of them was able to
prove an alibi, not one of them could be suspected.
The aga very nearly had an overflow of gall. He
said nothing, he only rolled his eyes ; and when the
last soldier had denied any share in the death of the
Turks, he leaped upon his horse, and threatening
them with his fist, growled through his gnashing
teeth:
"Wait, ye also shall have your St Demetrius'
day ! " * and with that he galloped back to Gross-
wardein.
On his arrival he found Feriz Beg with the Pasha,
and at once told his story, exaggerating the details
to the uttermost
"What did I tell thee?" said Feriz to the Pasha;
u didn't I say they would send back the message
that they had never quitted the town. I am sorry
for your honour's hundred ducats."
At these words Ajas Pasha kicked over his chibouk
and his saucer of sherbet, and in a hoarse, scarce
intelligible voice, said to the aga r
"Be off this instant to Stambul as fast as thou
canst Tell the Grand Vizier what has happened,
and say to him that if he does not give me the
amplest satisfaction, I myself will go against these
unbelieving devourers of unruminating beasts who
have dared to send me such a message, and will
destroy them, together with their strongholds; or
else I will cast my sword to the ground, and tie a
girdle round my loins, and go away and join the
brotherhood of Isfa&fer! Say that, and forget it
not!"
Very soon one firman after another reached the
Prince from Stambul, each one of which, with
* &* you shall be stoned to death.
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steadily rising wrath, demanded the extradition of
the assassins of the Spahis. The Prince made
inquiries and searched for them everywhere, but
nobody could be found to take upon his shoulders
this uncommitted deed of heroism.
The messages from the Porte assumed a more and
more furious tone every day. In itself the death of
four-and-twenty Spahis was no very serious stumbling-
block, but what more than anything lashed the
Turkish generals into a fury was the persistent
refusal of the Prince to acknowledge the offence.
Yet with the best will in the world he was unable to
do anything else, for not a single person on whom
suspicion might fall could he find throughout the
Principality.
In those days the dungeons of Klausenburg were
well filled with condemned robbers ; in the past year
alone no fewer than thirty incendiaries had been
discovered who had resolved to fire all Transylvania.
One day the noble Martin P6k, the provost-
marshal of the place, appeared before the robbers,
and attracted the attention of the most evil-disposed
of these cut-throats and incendiaries by shouting at
them:
" You worthless gallows-dogs, which of you would
like to be set free at any price? •
" I would 1 I would ! " cried a whole lot of them.
" Bread is going to be dear, so we cannot waste it
on the like of you, so Master Ladislaus Szlkely has
determined that whoever of you would like to become
Turks are to be handed over to our gracious master,
Ajas Pasha, who will make some of you Janissaries,
and send the rest to the isle of Samos ; so whoever
will be a Turk, let him speak."
Everyone of them wanted to be a Turk.
"Very well, you rascals, just attend to mel I
must tell you what to say when you stand before the
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THE TURKISH DEATH. 3°3
Pasha, for if you answer foolishly you will be
bastinadoed. First of all he will ask you : ' Are you
Master Ladislaus Szlkely's men ? ' You will answer :
4 Yes, we are ! ' Then he will ask you : ' Were you
at &lesd on a certain day ? ' And you must admit
that you were. Finally, he will ask you if you met
Feriz Beg there? You will admit everything, and
then he will instantly release you from servitude.
Do you understand ? "
" Yes, yes ! * roared the incendiaries ; and dancing
in their fetters they followed the provost-marshal
upstairs, who turned his extraordinary small head
back from time to time to smile at them, at the same
time twisting the ends of his poor thin moustache
with an air of crafty self-satisfactioa
One day two letters reached Grosswardein from
StambuL One of these letters was from Kucsuk
Pasha to his son, the other was from the Sultan to
^jas Pasha
The letter to Feriz Beg was as follows :
"My Son, — Let thy heart rejoice: Kiuprile and
Maurocordato have not been wasting their time.
The Grand Vizier is very wrath with the Prince and
his Court The death of the four-and-twenty Spahis
is an affair of even greater importance in Stambul
just now than the capture of Candia. I fancy we
shall very soon get what we want"
Feriz Beg understood the allusion, and went at
once to the Pasha in the best of humours.
"Listen to what the omnipotent Sultan writes/ 1
said the Pasha, producing a parchment sealed with
green wax, adorned below with the official signature
of the Sultan, the so-called Tugra, which was not
unlike a bird's-nest made of spiders'-webs.
Feriz Beg pressed the parchment to his forehead
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3©4 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
and his lips, and the further he read into it the more
his face filled with surprise and joy.
"Valiant Ajas Pasha my Faithful Servant!
— I wish thee always all joy and honour. Inasmuch
as I learn from thee that the faithless servants of the
Prince, in time of peace and amity, have slain four-
and-twenty Spahis, and that their masters not only
have not punished this misdeed but even presumed
to deceive me with lying reports thereof, thereby
revealing their ill-will towards me, now therefore I
charge and authorise thee in case the counsellors of
the Prince do not surrender the murderers in response
to my ultimatum, which even now is on its way to
them, or in case they make any objection whatsoever,
or even if they simply pass over the matter in silence;
in any such case I charge and authorise thee instantly
to invade Transylvania with all the armies at thy
disposal, and by the nearest route. Kucsuk Pasha
also will immediately be ready at hand with his
bands at Vorostorony, and the Tartar King hath also
our command to lend thee assistance. This done, I
will either drive the Prince into exile or take him
prisoner, when I will at once strike off the chains of
Master Paul Bildl — who, because of his stubbornness,
now sits in irons at Jedekula — and whether he will or
not, I will place him incontinently on the throne of
the Prince, etc., etc."
"Dost thou believe now that we shall get the
murderers?" asked Ajas Pasha triumphantly.
"Never!" said Feriz Beg, laughing aloud and
beside himself with joy.
"What dost thou say?" growled the astonished
Ajas ; " but suppose we go for them ourselves ? "
" Well ! " said Feriz, perceiving that he had nearly
betrayed himself, " in that case — yes." But he said
to himself "Not then or ever; and Paul Blldi will be
released, and Paul Blldi will become Prince,.
and his wife will be Princess Consort, and Aranka
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THE TURKISH DEATH. 305
will be a Princess too, and we shall see each other
again."
At that moment an aga entered the room and
announced with a look of satisfaction :
"Master Ladislaus Sz£kely has now sent the
murderers."
Feriz Beg reeled backwards. The word "impossible "
hung upon his lips, and he nearly let it escape. It
was impossible.
" Let them come in I " said Ajas Pasha viciously.
He would have preferred to carry out the Sultan's
conditional command, seize the Principality, and
conduct the campaign personally.
Feriz Beg fancied he was dreaming when he saw
the forty or fifty selected rascals who, led by Martin
P6k, drew up before Ajas Pasha; the rogues were
dressed up as soldiers but thief, criminal, was
written on the face of each one of them.
Master Martin P6k exhibited them to the Pasha
and Feriz Beg, and very wisely stood aside from
them. Feriz Beg clapped his hands together in
astonishment. He knew better than anyone that
these fellows had never seen the Spahis, and he waited
\o hear what they would say.
Ajas Pasha sat on his sofa with a countenance as
cold as marble, and at a sign from him a file of
Janissaries formed behind the backs of the rascals,
who tried to look as pleasant and smiling as possible
before the Pasha to gain his favour.
"Ye are Master Ladislaus Sz&cely's men, eh?"
Inquired the Pasha of the false heroes.
"We are — at thy service, unconquerable Pasha,"
they replied with one voice, folding their hands
across their breasts and bowing down to the very
ground.
The Pasha beckoned to the Janissaries to come
softly up behind each one of them.
" Ye were at £lesd at midnight on the day of St.
Michael the Archangel, eh ? " he asked again.
M We were indeed— at thy service invincible
U
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3 o6 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
Pasha I" they repeated striking their knees with
their foreheads.
Feriz Beg rent his clothes in his rage. He would
have liked to have' roared at them : " Ye lie, you
rascals ! You were not there at all ! " but he was
obliged to keep silence.
Ajas beckoned again to the Janissaries, and very
nicely and quietly they drew their swords from their
sheaths, and, grasping them firmly, concealed them
behind their backs.
The Pasha put the third question to the robbers.
u Ye met Feriz Beg, eh ? "
u Lie not ! " cried Feriz furiously. M Look well at
me ! * Have you ever seen me anywhere before ?
Did you ever meet me at 6lesd ? "
The interrogated, bowing to the earth, replied with
the utmost devotion : " Yes — at your service, in-
vincible Pasha and most valiant Beg I "
At that same instant the swords flashed in the
hands of the Janissaries, and the heads of the robbers
suddenly rolled at their feet
" Oh, ye false knaves ! " cried Feriz Beg, striking
his forehead with his clenched fist
Ajas Pasha turned coolly towards Martin P6k:
" Greet thy master, and tell him from me that another
time he must be quicker, and not make me angry. —
As for thee, Feriz, my son, pay me back those
hundred ducats I "
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CHAPTER XXIV.
THE HOSTAGE.
One evening two horsemen dressed as Turks rode
into the courtyard of the fortress of Szamostijvir, and
demanded an audience of the noble Dan6 Sdlymosi,
the commandant A soldier conducted to him the
two Moslems, one of whom seemed to be a man
advanced in years, whose sunburnt face was covered
with scars; the other was a youth, whose face was
half hidden in the folds of a large mantle, only his
dark eyes were visible.
"Good evening, captain," said the elder Turk,
greeting the commandant, who at the first moment
recognised the intruder and joyfully hastened towards
him and grasped his hand.
" So God has brought Kucsuk Pasha to my humble
dwelling."
" Then thou dost recognise me, worthy old man ? "
said Kucsuk, just touching the hand of the worthy
old Magyar.
"How could I help it, my good sir? Thou didst
free my only daughter from the hands of the filthy
Tartars, thou didst deliver her from grievous captivity,
thou didst give her a place of refuge, food, and pleasant
words in a foreign land. I should not be a man if I
were to forget thee."
" Well, for all these things I have come hither to
beg something of thee."
"Command me! My life and goods are at thy
service."
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3 o8 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
"Dost thou not detain here the family of Paul
B&di?"
" Yes, sir ; they brought the unfortunate creatures
hither."
"I must have Paul Bdldi's consort out of this
prison for a fortnight, at the accomplishment of which
time I will bring her back again."
The captain was thunderstruck.
* Sir," said he, " you are playing with my head."
" None will know, and in two weeks' time she will
be here again."
" But if they discover it ? "
" Have no fear of that During that time I will
leave in thy hands as a hostage my own son."
The young cavalier approached, threw back his
mantle, and the captain recognised Feriz Beg. He
fancied he was dreaming.
" Dost thou not suppose that I will bring back the
woman for the sake of my son ? "
" Do what you think well, 11 said the commandant
" I owe you a life, I will now pay it back to you ;
follow me ! "
The commandant led his visitors up a narrow
corkscrew fortress into the corner tower, which was
used as a dungeon for state prisoners. The circular
windows were guarded by heavy iron bars, the heavy
iron-plated oaken doors groaned upon their hinges,
indicating thereby that they were very seldom
opened.
" Why did you put them in this lonely place ? "
asked Kucsuk Pasha; "is there not some other
prison in the town ? "
44 Don't blame me, sir ; my orders were to lock the
lady up securely, apart from her child, and in this
tower are two adjacent chambers with a common
window, and in one of them I have put the mother
and in the other the child. I knew that they would
not mind if they could speak to each other through
the window, and press each other's hands, and even
kiss each other through the bars."
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THE HOSTAGE. 309
" Thou art a true man, my good old fellow," said
Kucsuk Pasha, patting the commandant's shoulder ;
while Feriz Beg warmly pressed his hand.
"Thou wouldst put me into just such another
dungeon, eh?" he asked.
" There would be no need of that, good Feriz Beg ;
you should dwell in my apartments."
"But I would not have it so," said the youth,
thinking with glowing cheeks of the fair Aranka who
would thus be his next-door neighbour and fellow-
prisoner.
At last the iron door of the prison was opened, the
jailor remained outside, and the two Osmanlis entered.
By the side of a rude oak table was sitting a lady in
deep mourning in front of the narrow window, reading
aloud from a large Bible with silver clasps; her
children at the window of the other dungeon were
listening devoutly to the Word of God.
When the men entered the woman started and
looked up ; the dim ray of light coming through the
narrow window made her face appear still paler than
it used to be ; she looked up seriously, sadly — sorrow
had lent a gentle gravity to the face that used to
be so bright and gay.
Kucsuk Pasha approached, and taking the lady's
soft transparent hand in his own, briefly introduced
himself.
" I am Kucsuk Pasha, thy husband's most faithful
friend in this world after thyself."
" I thank you for your visit ; my husband has often
mentioned your name. Do you perchance bring me
any message from him ? "
M He would have thee with him."
"Then I am free?" cried the lady, tremulous
between joy and doubt.
11 Rejoice not, lady ; it is not in my power to give
thee freedom, I only promise thee a brief interview
with Paul B£ldi, just time enough for thee to tell him
how much thou hast suffered. He cannot come to
thee, so thou must come to him. With me thou
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310 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
canst come most quickly, for the greatest part of the
time we shall be travelling together."
" Will my children come with me ? "
" They will remain here. But thou wilt see them
again soon. Either thou wilt conquer Paul B£ldi
with thy tears, and melt his iron will, and then he will
come back to Transylvania as Prince and every gate
will be open before him ; or else he will stand fast to
his determination, and then thou wilt return to thy
dungeon and he to his, and so you will both die in
the dungeons of different realms. Now take leave of
thy children and hasten. It depends upon thee
whether they become princes and princesses or slaves
for ever."
" And who will defend them, who will watch over
them, who will pray with them while I am away?"
H Be not distressed, I will leave my own son here
as a hostage while thou art away. Feriz will occupy
thy dungeon, he will watch over thy children, and not
let them be afraid. Hasten now and take leave of
them."
Dame B£ldi rushed to the round window. Loudly
sobbing, she called her children one by one, and then
embraced them all as best she could. The cold iron
bars stood between her breast and theirs. The tears
of their weeping faces could not dissolve them.
" Give this kiss to father ! — And this kiss * from
me! — And this from me!" lisped the children,
putting their little arms round their mother's neclc
through the bars.
"My child, my good Aranka!" said Dame Bdldi
to the girl, who being about fifteen or sixteen was the
eldest of them all ; " look after thy little brothers and
sisters! And you, my good little lads, comfort
Aranka. God bless you ! God defend you ! One
more kiss, Aranka! And one more for you, little
David?"
"Madame, time is passing, and Paul B£ldi is
waiting for thee to open his prison!" intervened
Kucsuk Pasha, withdrawing Dame B£ldi from the
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THE HOSTAGE. 311
window of her children's prison, who thereupon
turned her tear-stained face towards Feriz Beg, and
in a passion of grief flung herself on the youth's neck,
and said to him in a voice almost indistinguishable
for her sobbing :
" Thou noble heart ! promise me that thou wilt love
my children when I am far away I "
"By Allah, I swear it!" exclaimed the youth,
pressing to his bosom the poor woman who was half-
fainting for sorrow, u I swear that I will love them for
ever!"
Ah! there was one among them whom he had
already loved for a long, long time.
"Hasten, lady!" urged the Pasha; "cast this
mantle over thee, and place this turban on thy head
that the guards may not recognise thee in the
distance. The way is long, the time is short"
"God be with you, God be with you!" sobbed
Dame B£ldi, casting with tremulous hands hundreds
of kisses towards her children, who waved their good-
byes to her from their window and then, violently
repressing her emotion, she rushed from the dungeon.
Kucsuk Pasha pressed the hand of his son in
silence, and left him in Dame Bdldi's room.
The children kept on weeping behind their window.
The youth drew nearer to them.
" Weep not," he said cheerfully, " your mother will
soon come again and bring your father with her, and
then you will all rejoice together."
"Ah, but then they'll k^ll father!" sobbed one of
the children timidly.
" So long as Feriz Beg can use his sword none shall
touch Paul B&di," cried the youth, with flashing eyes.
" My sword and my father's will flash around him, his
enemies will be my enemies. Fear not ! when I get
back my sword, I will win back his liberty with it"
",I thank you, I thank you," whispered a gentle
voice overcome by emotion.
Feriz Beg recognised the silvery vwee of Aranka,
and the weeping blue eyes of the seraph face which
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3 i2 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
regarded him, like Heaven after rain, flashed upon
him a burning ray of gratitude which was to haunt
him in his dreams and in his memory for ever.
Feriz felt his heart leap with a great joy. Pressing
close up to the prison bars that he might get as close
to the girl as possible he said to her with a tender
voice :
" How happy I am now that we dwell together as
neighbours in the same dungeon, but oh, how much
happier shall we be when no doors are closed upon
us? Let me then have a place beside thy hearth
and within thy heart ! "
The fair, sad girl, with a face full of foreboding,
stretched through the bars of the dungeon a hand
whiter than 9. lily, whiter than snow. Feriz Beg
solemnly raised it to his lips and falling on his knees,
in an outburst of sublime devotion touched his lips
and his forehead with that beloved hand.
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CHAPTER XXV.
THE HUSBAND.
At the very hour when Kucsuk Pasha arrived at
-Stambul, Master Ladislaus Sz£kely, whom Master
Michael Teleki had sent with rich presents to the
Porte, likewise dismounted from his carriage. It
was his mission to win the favour of the infuriated
Grand Vizier and the Pashas, who had again begun
violently to urge Paul B&di to accept the princely
throne.
Master Ladislaus Sz£kely had also brought with
him Zulfikar to be his guide and interpreter through
the tortuous streets of Stambul.
As we already know, this worthy gentleman's
particular hobby was the collection of jewels, and the
Prince had sent through him such a heap of precious
stones that the heart of the good gentleman when he
saw them all spread out before him died away within
him at the thought that the whole collection was
ruthlessly to be broken up and distributed among a
lot of foreigners and Pashas.
14 What a shame to lose them all," he thought.
44 And even then who knows whether we shall be safe
after all. It is like casting pearls before swine. A
much quicker way would be to get Master Paul B&di
assassinated. That would be cutting the knot once
for all, and we should have no further danger from
that quarter. Michael Teleki wouldn't kill me for a
trifle like that, I know. You, Zufikar, my son, could
you undertake to poison someone?" he inquired,
turning towards the renegade.
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3 i4 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
" The whole town if you like."
" No, only Master Paul B6ldL It is all one to him
whether he dies or remains a prisoner for life."
" I'll do it for two hundred ducats, if you pay me
half in advance."
" I'll pay you, Ziilfikar, but how will you get at
him?"
" That's my affair, all you have to do is to get the
money ready."
Accordingly Ladislaus Sz£kely gave the earnest-
money to the renegade, and the renegade went home
and wrote a letter in the name of the Beglerleg of the
following tenour : " Be assured that our affairs are in
the best order, and we shall shortly gain our object"
He strewed over these lines a fine blue dust which
was the strongest of poisons, calculating that whoever
wanted to read the letter would first brush the dust
off it, whereupon the fine dust would rise in the air,
and the person reading the letter would inhale the
dust and die.
After attaching the letter to his turban, he began
prowling round the dungeon of Paul B61di, awaiting
an opportunity of worming his way into it
Paul Bdldi was sitting alone in the darkest corner
of the dungeon of Jedikula. At his feet lay his
faithful bloodhound, Kortovely, with his eyes fixed
sadly on his master. Whenever his master slept the
dog would sit up, never take his eyes off him, and
begin growling at the lightest noise.
B61di, with folded arms, was sitting on the stone
bench to which he was chained. His face had grown
terribly pale and as if turned to stone. The pale
gleam of light which filtered through the narrow
window and lit up his face, found there no trace of
that weary longing which the dweller in prisons
generally has for the sun's rays. The whole man,
body and soul, was hardened into steel.
Suddenly the dog lying at his feet impatiently
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THE HUSBAND. 315
raised its sagacious head, and then with a whimper of
joy ran towards the door ; there it stood for a time
merrily barking, and then ran back to its master and
stood before him wagging its tail with One foot on his
shoulder, whining and whimpering with such lively
joy that one might almost have understood what it
wanted to say.
u Whafs the matter ? Good dog ! " said B6ld\ 9
stroking the dog's head. "What is it? Nobody's
coming to see me that can make you happy."
At that moment the key turned in the door of the
dungeon and a group of men by the light of torches
descended the steps and entered B£ldi's prison ;
whereupon Kortovely quickly left his master and
burrowing his way through the throng, began to yelp
merrily over someone, and then rushing back to his
master, planted his fore-paws on his breast and
barked as if he would burst because he could not
express more plainly the joy which his wonderful
canine instinct had anticipated.
B&di, perceiving among those who visited him the
Grand Vizier, Kiuprile, and Maurocordato, ordered
his dog to be quiet, and standing up before them,
saluted them with a deep bow.
" Well, thou obstinate man ! " said the Grand
Vizier, " how long wilt thou torment thyself and
offend the Sultan and thine own good friends ? Wilt
thou ever perceive that to sit on a stone bench in a
damp dungeon is a very different thing to sitting on
a princely throne ? "
" The more I suffer," said B&di, in a strangely calm
voice, " the more reason I have to rejoice that my
country does not suffer instead of me."
The Grand Vizier thereupon said something in
Turkish which Maurocordato sadly interpreted :
"The Grand Seignior informs thee that because of
money thou hast been cast into prison, and only
money can release thee ; promise, therefore, two
hundred and seventy purses, and thou shalt get the
Principality to enable thee to pay it"
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3 i6 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
" I have told you my determination" said Bdldi,
" and I will not depart from it I will not promise
money to the detriment of my country. I will not
lead an army against it, and I will not break my
oath. These were and will be my words from which
I can never depart."
"Never!" cried Kucsuk Pasha, pressing through
the crowd. "Wilt thou not even now?" — and with
that he led a pale female figure towards B£ldL
" My wife ! " exclaimed the captive, and he gripped
fast his chains lest he should collapse for joy, terror,
and surprise.
The pale woman in mourning fell upon his bosom,
her tears became his fetters.
Paul B41di burst into tears, he fell back upon his
stone bench, his very soul was shattered. He
remained clinging upon his wife's neck, speechless,
unable to utter a word, and the whining dog licked
now the hand of his master and now the lady's hand.
"Let us turn aside," said Kucsuk Pasha ; "let us
leave them together" — and the Turks withdrew from
the dungeon, leaving Paul B61di alone with his wife.
" I fancied," said Dame B&di when she was able to
utter a word amidst her choking sobs. " I fancied I
was suffering instead of you, and oh! you were
suffering more than I."
" How did you come here?" asked B£ldi, in a low
stifled voice.
"Kucsuk Pasha left his son as a hostage in my
stead."
" Worthy man ! What useless sacrifices he is making
for my sake. And my children ? "
" They remain in the dungeon whither also I must
return, if you will not accept the Sultan's offer."
"Have they taken away my girl Aranka also?*
asked B£ldi, with a heavy heart.
"Yes, they have taken her too, and if we are
released we shall have no whither to go. They have
taken everything of ours. The Bethlen property has
become the prey of Farkas Bethlen ; the Haromszeki
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THE HUSBAND. 317
estate is now in the hands of Clement Mikes, although
it is not lawful to deprive a Sz&cler of his lands, even
for high-treason. Our castle at Bodola has been
totally destroyed, our escutcheon has been torn to
pieces, and your name has been recorded in the
journals of the Diet as a traitor."
44 Oh, ye men ! " roared B£ldi, shaking his chains in
the bitterness of his anger ; M if I were not Paul B^ldi
the wrath of God would descend upon your heads.
But ah ! — I love my country even if worms are
gnawing it Dry your eyes, my good wife ! you see
I am not weeping. What we suffer is the visitation
of God upon us. I remain a Christian and a patriot
I leave my cause to God ! "
"You will not accept the offer of the Sultan?'*
inquired Dame Bdldi, approaching her husband with
fear and despair in her eyes.
" Never ! " replied B61di, in a low voice.
The wife, with a loud scream, flung herself at the
feet of her husband, and, seizing his knees in a.
convulsive embrace, begged and besought him :
"You would send me back to my dungeon? You
would separate me from you for ever? Never, never,
not even in the hour of death, shall I see you again."
u Comfort yourself with the thought that you loved
me, and were worthy of me, if you can suffer as I do
and for the same reason."
14 You would plunge your children into eternal
captivity ? "
M Tell them that their father lived honourably and
died honourably, and teach them to live and die like
him."
•* Think of your girl, Aranka ; your favourite, your
dearest child."
" Rather may she fade away than Transylvania be
plunged in the flames of war."
" B61di ! drive me not to despair ! " cried the wife
trembling violently. "I am afraid, horribly afraid,
of my dungeon. Twice have I had fever from the
close, damp air. There was none to care for me in
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318 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
my sickness; I was calling your name continually,
and you were far from me ; I saw your image, and
was unable to embrace you. Oh, B£ldi ! I shall die
without you! The most terrible form of death —
despair — will kill me!"
B&di knelt down by the side of his wife and
embraced and kissed her. The woman fainted in
his arms as the Turks entered his prison. B£ldi
beckoned Kucsuk Pasha to him. A sort of leaden,
death-like hue had begun to spread over his face ; he
•could scarce see with whom he was conversing. He
laid his swooning wife in the arms of the Pasha, and
stammered with barely intelligible words : " I thank
you for your good will Here is my wife — take her
— back to her dungeon ! "
The Turks, in speechless astonishment, lifted up
the fainting woman, and left the dungeon without
plaguing B£ldi with any more questions.
B61di stood stonily there as they went out, with
open lips and a dull light in his eyes. When the last
Turk had gone, and he saw his wife no longer, his
head began to nod and droop down, and suddenly he
fell prone upon the floor.
Kortorely, the old hound, began sorrowfully,
bitterly, to whine.
At that moment Ziilfikar entered the dungeon
with the poisoned letter.
He was too late. Paul B£ldi had already departed
from this world.
When Ladislaus Sz6kely heard of B&di's death he
gave a magnificent banquet, and when the company
was at its merriest Ziilfikar came rushing in.
"Come! out with those hundred ducats!" he
whispered in the ear of Master Ladislaus Szikely.
"What do you mean?" cried Szikely in a voice
flushed with wine. " Paul B6\di had a stroke ; be
content with what you have had already."
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THE HUSBAND. 319
"Thou faithless dog of a giaour!" cried the
renegade at the top of his voice so that everyone
could hear him, " is this the way thou dost deceive
me? Thou didst bargain with me for the death of
Paul B&di for two hundred ducats, and now thou
wouldst beat me down by one half. Thou art a
rogue meet for the hangman's hands. Is it thus thou
dost treat an honest man? I'll not kill a man for
thee another time until thou pay me in advance, thou
faithless robber ! "
The company laughed aloud at this scene, but
Master Ladislaus Sz^kely seemed very much put out
by the joke. "What are you talking about, you
crazy fellow?" said he. "Who asked you to do
anything? I never saw you in my life before ! "
"What!" cried Ziilfikar. "I suppose thou wilt
deny next that thou didst write this letter to Paul
B6\di ! " and with that he gave Ladislaus Szlkely
the poisoned letter. He seized it, broke the seal,
brushed away the dust, and ran his eye over it,
whereupon he flung it at the feet of Ziilfikar,
exclaiming : " I never wrote that."
Then he beckoned to the servants to seize Ziilfikar
by the collar and pitch him into the street But the
renegade stood outside in front of the windows and
began to curse Szlkely before the assembled crowd
for not paying him the price of the poison.
Inside the house the guests laughed more heartily
than ever, and at last Sz£kely himself began to look
upon the matter in the light of a joke, and laughed
like the rest; but when he returned home to
Transylvania he felt a pain in his stomach, and did
not know what was the matter. He became deaf,
could neither eat nor drink, and his bowels began to
rot.
Nobody could cure him of his terrible malady, till
at last he fell in with a German leech, who per-
suaded him that he could cure him with the dust of
genuine diamonds and sapphires. Ladislaus Sz£kely
handed to the charlatan his collection of precious
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320 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
stones. He abstracted the stones from their settings,,
but ground up common stones instead of them in his
medical mortar, and stampeded himself with the real
stones, leaving Ladislaus Sz6kely to die the terrible
death by poison which he had intended for Paul
B&di.
Paul Beldi they buried in foreign soil ; none visited
his grave. Only his faithful dog sat beside it For
eight days it neither ate nor drank. On the ninth
day it died on the deserted grave of its master.
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CHAPTER XXVI.
THE FADING OF FLOWERS.
And now let us see what became of Aranka and
Feriz.
At last they were beneath one roof together — this
roof was a little better than the roof of a tomb, but
not much, for it was the roof of a dungeon. They
could only see each other through a narrow little
window, but even this did them good. They were
able to press each other's hands through the iron
bars, console each other, and talk of their coming
joys and boundless happiness. The walls of the
prison were so narrow, so damp, the narrow opening
scarce admitted the light of day ; but when the youth
began to talk of his native land, Damascus, rich in
roses, of palm-trees waving in the breeze, of warm
sunny skies, where the housetops were planted with
flowers, and the evergreens give a shade against the
ever-burning sun, at such times the girl forgot her
dungeon and fancied she was among the rose-groves
of Damascus, and when the youth spoke of the
future she forgot the rose-groves of Damascus and
fancied she was in heaven.
Days and days passed since the departure of Dame
B£ldi, and there were no news of her. Every day the
spirits of the girl declined, every evening she parted
more and more sadly with Feriz, and every morning
he found it more and more difficult to comfort her.
And now with great consternation the youth began
to perceive that the girl was very pale, the colour of
life began to fade from her round, rosy cheeks, and
there was something new in the brightness of her
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eyes — it was no earthly light there which made him
tremble as he gazed upon her. The youth durst not
ask her: • What is the matter?" But the girl said
to him :
" Oh, Feriz ! I am dying here ; I shall never see
your smiling skies."
" I would rather see the sky black than thee dead"
M The sky will smile again, but I never shall. I
feel something within me which makes my heart's
blood flow languidly, and at night I see my dead
kinsfolk, and walk with them in unknown regions
which I never saw before, and which appear before
me so vividly that I could describe every house and
every bush by itself"
" That signifies that thou wilt visit unknown regions
with me."
" Oh, Feriz, I no longer feel any pleasure in those
lands of yours, nor am I glad when I think of your
palms, and as often as I see you darkness descends
upon my soul, for I feel that I am going to leave you."
" Speak not so, joy of my existence. Grieve not
God with thy words, for God is afflicted when the
innocent complain."
N I am not complaining. I go from a bad into a
good world, and there I shall see you in my dreams."
" But if this bad world should become better, and
you lived happily in it?"
Aranka sadly shook her pretty, angelic head.
"That it is not necessary for this world to grow
better you can see from the fact that the good must
die while the wicked live a long time. God seeks
out those that love Him, and takes them unto Him-
self, for He will not let them suffer long."
Feriz shuddered. What could have put these
solemn, melancholy thoughts into the heart of this
girl, this child ? It was the approach of Death, the
worm-bitten fruit ripens more quickly than the rest
Slow, creeping Death had seized upon the childish
mind and made it speak like the aged — and sad it
was to listen to its words.
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THE FADING OF FLOWERS. 323
u Cheer up " said Feriz, with an effort, skimming
tfith his lips the girl's white hand which she thrust
out to him through the bars. " Thy mother will soon
be here; thy father will sit on the throne of the
Prince as he deserves ; thou wilt be a Princess, and
I will strive and struggle till I am high enough to
sue for thee, and then I will lay my glory and renown
at thy feet, and thou shalt be my bride, my queen,
my guardian angel."
The girl shook her head sorrowfully.
" And we will walk along by the banks of the quiet
streams in those ancient lands where not craft but
valour rules, where the wise are only learned in the
courses of the stars and the healing virtues of the
plants, not in the science of the rise and fall of
kingdoms. There from the window of my breeze-
blown kiosk, which is built on the slopes of Lebanon,
thou wilt view the whole region round about Above,
the shepherds kindle their fires in the blackness of
the cedar forests ; below, the mountain stream runs
murmuring along, and all round about us the
nightingale is singing, and what he singeth is the
happiness of love. In the far distance thou seest
the mirror of the great sea, and the white-sailed
pleasure boat rocks to and fro on the transparent
becalmed billows, and the moon looks down upon
the limitless mirror, and a fair maiden sits in the
pleasure-boat, and at her feet lies a youth, and both
of them are silent, only a throbbing heart is speaking,
and it speaks of the happiness of love"
A couple of tears dropped from the eyes of the
girl — the future was so seductive — and that picture,
that fair country, she did not seem to be regarding
them from the earth, it seemed to her as if she was
looking down upon them from the sky and regretting
that she was forced to leave — the beautiful world.
Aranka. adored her father. The man who was
respected for his virtues by a whole kingdom was
the highest ideal of his child. When Feriz began to
speak of him, the girl's face brightened, and at the
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3*4 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
recital of his heroic deeds the tears dried up in her
flashing eyes ; and when the youth told her how the
great patriot would return, glorious and powerful,
supported by the mightiest of monarchs, and how he
would throw open the prison doors of his children
and be parted from them no more, then a smile
would gradually transfigure the girl's face, and she
would feel happy. And then she would steal apart
into her own dungeon, and kneel down before her
bed, and pray ardently that she might see her father
soon, very soon.
And she was to see him before very long.
Paul Bdldi's body was now six feet deep in the
ground, and his soul a star farther off in the sky —
to see him one must go to him.
Paler and paler she became every day, her waking
moments were scarcely different from her dreams,
and her dreams from her waking moments. The
provost-marshal now had compassion on the withered
flower, and allowed it on the sunny afternoons to
walk about on the bastions and breathe the fresh air.
But neither moonlight nor fresh air could cure her now.
Frequently she would take the hand of Feriz Beg
and press it to her forehead. "See how it burns,
just like fire ! Oh, if only I might live till my father
comes. How he would grieve for me ! "
Feriz Beg saw her wither from day to day, and
still there was no sign of liberty. The youth used
frequently to walk about the courtyard half a day at
a time, like a lion in a cage, beating the walls with
his forehead at the thought that that for which he
had been striving his whole life long, and the
possession whereof was the final goal of his existence,
was drawing nearer and nearer to Death every hour,
and no human power could hold it back 1
The wife of the provost-marshal, a good, true
woman, nursed the rapidly declining girl. Medical
science was then of very small account in Tran-
sylvania; the sick had resort to well-known herbs
and domestic remedies based on the experience of
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THE FADING OF FLOWERS. 3*5
the aged; they trusted for the most part to our
blessed mother Nature and the mercy of God.
The worthy woman did all she could, but her
honest heart told her that the arrival of Aranka's
father, and the sooner the better, would do more
good than all her remedies. That would transform
the invalid, and joy would give her back her failing
vital energy.
Feriz Beg had not been able to speak to Aranka
for two days ; the girl had suffered greatly during
the night, and Feriz was condemned to listen to the
moaning of his beloved, and to hear her in the
delirium of fever through the prison windows with-
out being able to go to her, without being able to
wipe the sweat from her forehead, or put a glass of
cold water to her lips, or whisper to her words of
comfort, and had to be content with knowing that
she was with those who carefully nursed her.
Oh, it is not to the dying that death is most bitter.
By the morning the fever left her. The rising sun
was just beginning to shine through the narrow round
window and the sick girl begged to be carried out
into the open air and the warm morning sunshine.
She was no longer able to walk by herself, and they
carried her out on to the bastions in an arm-chair.
It was a beautiful autumn morning, a sort of trans-
parent light rested upon the whole region, giving a
pale lilac blue to the sunlit scene. Where the road
wound down from the Szekler hills a light cloud of
dust was visible in the morning vapour ; it seemed to
be coming from the direction of Szamosujvar.
44 Ah! there is my mother coming!" whispered
Aranka, with a smiling face.
The young Turk held his hand before his face and
fixed his eagle eyes in that direction ; and when for a
moment the breeze swept the dust off the road, and
a carriage on springs drawn by five horses appeared,
he exclaimed with a beating heart :
"Yes, that is indeed the carriage in which they
took away thy mother."
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3*6 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
Aranka was dumb with joy and surprise; she could
not speak a word, she only squeezed Feriz Beg*s
hands and fixed her tearful eyes upon him with a
grateful look.
The carriage seemed to be rapidly approaching.
" That is how people hasten who have something
joyful to say/' thought Feriz, and then he began to
fear less boundless joy might injure the life of his
darling.
Soon the carriage arrived in front of the fortress
and rumbled noisily over the drawbridge. Aranka,
supported by the arm of Feriz, descended into the
courtyard. They pressed onward to meet the
carriage, and the smile upon her pallid face was so
melancholy.
The glass door of the carriage was opened, and
who should come out but Kucsuk Pasha.
There was nothing encouraging in his look ; he
said not a word either to his son or to the girl who
clung to him, but the castellan was standing hard by,
and he beckoned to him.
" In the carriage," said Kucsuk, * is the prisoner
for whom I left my son as an hostage; take her back,
and look well after her, for she is very ill."
Dame B£ldi lay* in the carriage unconscious,
motionless.
Aranka, paler than ever and trembling all over,
asked :
"Where is my father?"
Kucsuk Pasha would have spoken, but tears came
instead of words and ran down his manly face;
silently he raised his hand, pointed upwards, and said,
in a scarce audible voice : c< In Heaven 1"
The gentle girl, like a plucked flower, collapsed at
these words. Feriz Beg caught her moaning in his
arms, she raised her eyes, a long sigh escaped her lips,
then her beautiful lips drooped, her beautiful eyes
closed, and all was over.
The beloved maiden had gone to her father in
Heaven.
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CHAPTER XXVII..
THE SWORD OP GOD.
FOR some time past God's marvels had been
multiplied over Transylvania. No longer were they
disquieting rumours which popular agitators invented
for the disturbance of the public peace, but extra-
ordinary natural phenomena whose rapid sequence
stirred the heart of even the coldest sceptic.
One summer morning at dawn, after a clear night,
an unusually thick heavy mist descended upon the
earth, which only dispersed in the afternoon, spread
over the whole sky in the shape of an endless black
cloud, and there remained like a heavy motionless
curtain. Not a drop of water fell from it, and at
noonday in the houses it was impossible to see
anything without a candle.
Towards evening every bird fcecame silent, the
flowers closed their calices, the leaves of the trees
hung limply down. The people walking about
outside began to complain of a stifling cough, and
from that time forth the germs of every disease
antagonistic to nature were seen in every herb, in
every fruit; even the water of the streams was
corrupted.* The hot blood of man, the earth itself
was infected by a kind of epidemic, so that weeds
never seen before sprang up and ruined the richest
^ crops, and the strongest oaks of the forest withered
"* beneath the assault of grey blight and funguses, and
the good black soil of the fruitful arable land was
covered with a hideous green mould
For three whole days the sky did not clear. On
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328 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
the evening of the fourth day the stifling stillness was
followed by a frightful hurricane, which tore off the
roofs of the houses, wrenched the stars and crosses
from the steeples of the churches, swept up the dust
from the high-roads, caused such a darkness that it
was impossible to see, and bursting open the willow
trees, which had just begun to bloom, drove the red
pollen before it in clouds, so that when the first big
rain-drops began to fall they left behind them blood-
red traces on the white walls of the houses. " It is
raining blood from Heaven ! " was the terrified cry.
Not long afterwards came the cracking thunderbolts
flashing and flaming as if they would flog the earth
with a thousand fiery whips, while one perpendicular
flash of lightning plumped right down into the
middle of the town, shaking the earth with its
cracking concussion, so that everyone believed the
hour of judgment was at hand.
Nevertheless the storm had scattered the clouds,
and by eventide the sky had cleared, and lo ! before
the eyes of the gaping multitude a gigantic comet
stood in the firmament, all the more startling as
nobody had been aware of its proximity because for
three days the sky had been blotted out by clouds.
The nucleus of the comet stood just over the place
where the sun had gone down, and the blood-red
light of evening was not sufficient to dim the
brightness of the lurid star ; it appeared as if it had
just slain the sun and was now bathing in its blood,
The comet was so long that it seemed to stretch
across two-thirds of the firmament, and the end of it
bulged out broadly like a Turkish scimitar.
" The sword of God I " whispered the people with
instinctive fear.
For two weeks this phenomenon stood in the sky,
rising late one day and early the next Sometimes
it appeared with the bright sun, and in the solar bright-
ness it looked like a huge streak of blue enamel in
the sky and spread around it a sort of febrile pallor
as if the atmosphere itself were sick : on bright
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THE SWORD OF GOD. 329
afternoons the sun could be regarded with the naked
eye.
The people were in fear and terror at this extra-
ordinary phenomenon, and when the blind masses
are in an unconscious panic then a storm is close at
hand, then they are capable of anything to escape
from their fear.
In those days the priests of every faith could give
strange testimony of the general consternation which
prevailed in Transylvania. The churches were kept
open all day long, and the indefatigable curers of
souls spoke words of consolation to the assembled
hosts of the faithful Magyari, the Prince's chaplain,
preached four sermons every day in the cathedral,
which was so crowded at such times that half the
people could not get in at all but remained standing
outside the doors.
One evening the church was so filled with faithful
worshippers that the very steps were covered with
them, and all sorts of Klausenberg burgesses inter-
mingled with travelling Szeklers in a group before
the principal door, and after the hymn was finished
they clapped to their clasped psalm-books and began
to talk to each other while the sermon was going on
inside:
M We live in evil times/' said an old master-tanner,
shaking his big cap.
" We can say a word about that too," interrupted
a Szekler, who was up in town about a law-suit, and
who seized the opportunity of saying what he knew
because he had come from far.
"Then you also have seen the sword of God?*
inquired a young man.
" Not only have we seen it, my little brother, but
we. have felt it also. Not a single evening do we lay
down to rest without reciting the prayers for the dead
and dying, and scarce a night passes but what we
see the sky a fiery red colour, either on the right
hand or to the left."
"What would that be?"
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330 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
* Some village or town burning to ashes. They
say the whole kingdom is full of destroying angels ,
one never knows whose roof will be fired over his
head next"
" God and all good spirits guard us from it"
w We hear all sorts of evil reports," said a ginger-
bread baker. "Yesterday I was talking to a
Wallachian woman whose husband was faring on
the Jaras- water on a raft taking cheese to Yorda.
He was not a day's journey from his home when the
Jaras turned, began to flow upwards, and took the
Wallachian back to his house from which he had
started"
A listening clergyman here explained the matter
by saying that the Aranyos, into which the Jaras
flows, was greatly flooded just then, and it was its
overflow which filled up the Jaras ; in fact it was
Divine Providence which brought the Wallachian
back, for if he had been able to go on farther, the
Tartars would certainly have fallen upon him and
cut him to pieces.
" I have experienced everything in my time," said
the oldest of the burgesses, "war, plague, flood and,
pestilence, but there's only one thing I am afraid of,
and that is earthquake, for a man cannot even go to
church to pray against that"
At that moment the preacher in the church began
to speak so loudly that those standing outside could
hear his words, and, growing suddenly silent, they
pressed nearer to the door of the church to hear what
he was saying.
The right rev. Magyari was trouncing the gentle-
men present unmercifully: "God prepares to war
against you, for ye also are preparing to war against
Him. You have broken the peace ye swore to observe
right and left, and ye shall have what you want, war
without and war within, so that ye may be constrained
to say: ( Enough, enough, O Lord! 1 and ye shall
not see the end of what you have so foolishly
begun"
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THE SWORD OF GOD. 331
Magyari already knew that Teleki, at the Diet of
Szamostijvir, had announced the impending war.
Just at this very time two men of the patrician
order in sable kalpags was seen approaching, in whom
the Klausenbergers at once recognised Michael Teleki
and Ladislaus Vajda, and so far as they were able they
made room for them to get into the church through
the crowd ; but the Szekler did not recognise either
of them, and when Ladislaus Vajda very haughtily
shoved him aside with his elbows, he turned upon
him and said :
" Softly, softly, sir ! This is the house of God, not
the house of a great lord. Here I am just as good a
man as you are."
Those standing beside him tried to pull him aside,
but it is the peculiarity of the Szeklers that they grow
more furious than ever when people try to pacify
them; and on perceiving that Ladislaus Vajda,
unable to make his way through the throng, began to
look about him to see how he best xould get to his
seat, the Szekler cried in front of him :
" Cannot you let these two gentlemen get into the
church ? don't you see that the lesson is meant for
them?"
Teleki meanwhile had forced his way just over the
threshold, and taking off his kalpag, exposed his bald,
defenceless head in the sight of all the people, with
his face turned in the direction indicated by the
boisterous Szekler.
Magyari continued his fulminating discourse from
the pulpit.
14 Nobody dare speak against you now, for your
words are very thunderbolts and strike down those
with whom you are angry — nay, rather, men bow the
knee before you and say, 'Your Excellency! Your
Excellency I' but the judgment of the Lord shall
descend upon you, the Lord will slay you, and then
men will point the finger of scorn at you and say :
• That is the consort of the accursed one who betrayed
his country ! — these are the children of that godless
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33a THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
man ! ' And your descendants will blush to bear the
shameful name you have left them, for then the
tongue of every man will wag in his mouth against
you, and they will cry after your posterity : ' It was
the father of those fellows who betrayed Transylvania
and plunged us into slime from which we cannot now
withdraw our feet . . ."
" Come away, your Excellency ! " said Ladislaus
Vajda to Teleki, whom the parson seemed to have
seen, for he turned straight towards him as he spoke.
"What are you thinking of?" Teleki whispered
back; " the parson is speaking the truth, but it doesn't
matter."
" Whither would ye go, ye senseless vacillators ! *
continued Magyari, "who empowered you to make
the men of Transylvania fugitives, their wives widows,
and their children orphans ? Verily I say to you, ye
shall fare like the camel who went to Jupiter for
horns and got shorn of his ears instead."
" It may be so," said Teleki to Vajda, " but we shall
pursue our course all the same:"
The parson saw that the Minister of State was
paying attention to his discourse, so he wrinkled his
forehead, and thus proceeded :
" When King Louis perished on the field of
Mohacs, the Turkish Emperor had the dead body
brought before him, and recognising at the same time
the corpse of an evil Hungarian politician lying
there, he struck off its head with his sword, and said :
4 If thou hadst not been there, thou dog I this honest
child-king would not be lying dead here.' God grant
that a foreign nation may not so deal with you."
Teleki scratched his head, and whispered :
" It may happen to me likewise, but that makes no
difference."
Shortly afterwards another hymn was sung, the
two magnates put on their kalpags and withdrew, and
the emerging crowd of people flowed along all around
them, among whom the Szekler, as recently mentioned,
followed hard upon the heels of the two gentlemen
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THE SWORD OF GOD. 333
with singular persistency, lauding to the skies before
everyone, in a loud voice, the sermon he had just
heard, so as to insult the two gentlemen walking in
front of him as much as possible.
"That was something like a sermon/ 9 he cried,
"that is just how our masters ought to have their
heads washed — without too much soap. And quite
right too ! Why saddle the realm with war at all ?
Why should Transylvania put on a mustard plaster
because Hungary has a pain in its stomach? What
has all this coming and going of foreigners to do with
us ? Why should we poor Transylvanians suffer for
the sake of the lean foreigners among us ? "
Ladislaus Vajda could put up with this no longer,
and turning round, shouted at the Szekler :
" Keep your distance, you rascal, speak like a man
at any rate ; don't bark here like some mad beast
when it sees a better man than itself. 1 '
At these words the Szekler thrust his neck forward,
stuck his face beneath the very nose of the gentleman
who had spoken to him, looked him straight in the
face with bright eyes that pricked like pins, and said,
twisting his moustaches fiercely :
" Don't you try to fix any of your bastard names
on me, sir, for if I go home for my sword I will pretty
soon make you a present of a head, and that head
shall be your own."
Ladislaus Vajda would have made some reply, but-.
Teleki pulled him by the arm and dragged him
away.
"Nothing aggravates your Excellency," said the
offended gentleman.
u Let him growl, he'll be all the better soldier if we
do have war ; never quarrel with a Szekler, my friend,
for he always has a greater respect for his own head
than for anyone else's."
And so the two gentlemen disappeared through the
gates of the Prince's palace.
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334 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
The Prince himself was present at this sermon, and
it produced this much impression that he enjoined a
fast upon his whole household and then went to bed
In the night, however, he awoke repeatedly, and had
so many tormenting visions that he woke up all his
pages, and it was even necessary at last to send for
the Princess herself, and only then did he become a
little calmer when she appeared at his bedside ; in
fact, he kept her with him till dawn of day, continually
telling her all sorts of sad and painful things so that
the Princess's cries of horror could be heard through
the door.
In the morning, after the Princess had' retired to
her own apartments, she immediately summoned to
her presence Michael Teleki, who, living at that time
at the Prince's court as if it were his own home, was
not very long in making his appearance, and obeyed
the command to be seated with as much cheerful
alacrity as if he had been asked to sit down at a
banquet, though well aware that a bitter cup had
been prepared for him which he must drain to the
dregs.
41 Sir," said the Princess, u Apafi was very ill last
night"
"That was owing to the fast, he isn't used to
such practices. Generally, he has a good supper,
and if he departs from his usual course of life he is
bound to sleep badly. Bad dreams plague an empty
stomach just as much as an overburdened one."
" And how about an overburdened conscience, sir ?
I have spent the whole night at his bedside, only this
instant have I quitted him ; he would not let me leave
him, he pressed my hand continually, and he talked,
soberly and wide-awake, of things which I should have
thought could only have been talked about in the
delirium of typhus. , He said that that night he had
stood before the judgment-seat of God, before a great
table — which was so long that he could not see the
end of it — and at this table sat the accusing witnesses,
first of all Denis Banfy, and then B£ldi, Dame B£ldi
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THE SWORD OF GOD. 335
and their daughter, and eldest son, who died in prison ;
Kepi, too, was there, and young Kornis, and old John
Bethlen, and the rest of them ; all these familiar faces
were before him, and as tremblingly he approached
the throne of God they all fixed their eyes upon him
and pointed their fingers at him. Sir, it was a terrible
picture."
" Does your Highness fancy that I am an interpreter
of dreams ? " asked Teleki maliciously.
" Sir, this is more than a dream — it is a vision, a
revelation."
"It may be so; the souls of the gentlemen
enumerated are, no doubt, in Heaven, and it is
possible that countless other souls will follow them
thither."
"And will the soul that shed their blood ascend
thither too?"
" Will your Highness deign to speak quite plainly
— I suppose you mean me? Of course, I am the
cause of all the evils of Transylvania. Till I came
upon the scene, none but lamb-like men inhabited this
state, in whose veins flowed milk and honey instead
of blood 1 King Sigismund, Bethlen, Bocskai, George
R4k6czy, for instance ! Under them only some fifty
or sixty thousand men lost their lives in their party
feuds and ambitious struggles ! Fine fellows, everyone
of them of course, everyone calls them great patriots.
But I, whose sword has never aimed at a self-sought
crown, I, who am animated by a great and mighty
thought, a sublime idea, I am a murderer, and
responsible not only for those who have fallen in
battle, but also for those who have died quietly in
their beds, if they were not my good friends."
11 There was a time, sir, when you used every effort
to prevent Transylvania from going to war."
"That was the very time when your Highness
pleaded before the Prince for war in the name of your
exiled Hungarian kinsfolk. Other times, other men."
" I knew not then that such a desire would lead to
the ruin of so many great and honourable men."
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336 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
" You feared war, and yet you fanned it. He who
resists a snow-storm is swept away. Not the fate of
men alone, but the fate of kingdoms also is here in
question. Apafi may console himself with the
reflection that God regards us both as far too petty
instruments to lay upon our souls what He Himself
has decreed in the fullness of time, and what will and
must happen in spite of us, for the weeping and
mourning which we listen to here is also heard in
Heaven. The mottoes of our escutcheons go very
well together. Apafi's is 'Fata viant inveniunt*
mine is ' Gutta cavat lapidem! Let us trust ourselves
to our mottoes."
The Princess, with folded arms, gazed out of the
window and remained in a brown study for some
time. And now, as though her thoughts were
wandering far away, she suddenly sighed : " Ah ! this
B61di family so unhappily ruined r and how many
more must be ruined likewise ! "
" Your Highness ! M rejoined the Minister, without
moving a muscle of his face, "when; in time of
drought, we pray for rain the yvhole day, does any-
body inquire what will become of the poor travellers
who may be caught in the downpour ? Yet it may
well happen that some of them may take a chill and
die in consequence."
" I don't grasp the metaphor."
"Well, the whole Principality is now praying for
rain — a rain of blood, I admit — and there is every
sign that God will grant it I do not mean those
signs and wonders in which the common folks
believe, but those signs of the times which rivet the
attention of thinking men. Formerly there was a
large party in Transylvania which had engaged to
uphold an indolent peace, and which had so many
ties, amongst the leading men both of the Kaiser and
the Sultan, that Denis Banfy could at one time boldly
tell me to my face that that Party was a hand with
a hundred fingers, which could squeeze everything
it laid hold of like a sponge And lo I the fingers
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THE SWORD OF GOD. 337
have all dropped off one by one. Denis Banfy has
perished — thjy say I killed him. Paul B61di has
died in prison — they say I have poisoned him. God
hath called John Bethlen also to Himself. Kapi has
died. The boldest of my enemies, Gabriel Kornis,
has also died in the flower of his youth — naturally
they attribute his death to me likewise. All those,
too, who opposed war in the Divdn have disappeared
one by one. Kucsuk Pasha has been shot down by a
bullet at Lippa. Kiuprile Pasha has been stifled by
his own fat ; and the youngest of the Viziers, Feriz
Beg, has gone mad.
" Gone mad ! " cried the Princess, covering her face
with her hands ; " that noble, worthy youth who
loved Transylvania so well?"
"Do you not see the hand of God in all this?"
asked the Minister.
" No, sir," said the Princess, rising with a face full
of sadness and approaching the Minister so as to
look him straight in the face while she spoke to him,
a it is your hand that I see everywhere. Denis
Banfy perished, but it was you who had him
beheaded. B£ldi is dead, but it was you who drove
him to despair. It was you, too, who threw his
family into prison, and only let them out when the
foul air had poured a deadly sickness into their
blood. And Feriz Beg has gone mad because he
loved B61di's daughter, and she is dead."
"Very well, your Highness, let it be so," replied
the imperturbable Minister. " To attribute to me the
direction of destiny is praise indeed. Believe, then,
that everything which happens in the council
chamber of this realm and in the heart of its
members derives from me. Til be responsible. And
if your Highness believes that that flaming comet,
which they call the Sword of God, is also in my hand
— why — be it so ! I will hurl it forth, and strike the
earth with it so that all its hinges shall be out of
joint,"
At that very moment the palace trembled to its
veiy foundations.
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33* THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
The Princess leaped to her feet, shrieking.
"Ah I what was that?" she asked, as pale as
death.
"It was an earthquake, madame," replied Teleki
with amazing calmness. "There is nothing to be
afraid of, the palace has very strong vaults ; but if
you ate afraid, stand just beneath the doorway, that
cannot fall"
On recovering from her first alarm the Princess
quickly regained her presence of mind.
" God preserve us ! I must hasten to the Prince.
Will not you come too?"
" I'll remain here," replied Teleki coolly. " We are
in the hands of God wherever we may be, and when
He calls me to Him I will account to Him for all
that I have done."
The Princess ran along the winding corridor, and,
finding her husband, took him down with her into
the garden.
It was terrible to see from the outside how the
vast building moved and twisted beneath the sinuous
motion of the earth ; every moment one might fear
it would fall to pieces.
The Prince asked where Teleki was ; the Princess
said she had left him in her apartments.
"We must go for him this instant!" cried the
Prince, but amongst all the trembling faces around
him he could find none to listen to his words, for
a man who fears nothing else is a coward in the
presence of an earthquake.
Meanwhile the Minister was sitting quietly at a
writing-table and writing a letter to Kara Mustafa,
who had taken the place of the dead Kiuprile. He
was a great warrior and the Sultan's right hand, who
not long before had been invited by the Cossacks
to help them against the Poles, which he did very
thoroughly, first of all ravaging numerous Polish
towns, and then, turning against his confederate
Cossacks, he cut down a few hundred thousands of
them and led thirty thousand more into captivity.
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THE SWORD OF GOD. 339
To him Teleki wrote for assistance for the Hun-
garians.
Every bit of furniture was shaking and tottering
around him, the windows rattled noisily as if shaken
by an ague, the very chair on which he sat rocked
10 and fro beneath him, and the writing-table bobbed
up and down beneath his hand so that the pen ran
away from the paper ; but for all that he finished his
letter, and when he came to the end of it he wrote at
the bottom in firm characters :
"Si fractus illabatur orbis, impavidum ferient
ruinae ! "
Mustafa puzzled his brains considerably when he
came to that part of the letter containing the verse
which had nothing to do with the text, which the
Minister, under the influence of an iron will struggling
against terror, had written there almost involuntarily.
When the menacing peril had passed, and the
pages had returned to the palace, he turned to them
reproachfully with the sealed letter in his hand.
" Where have you been ? Not one of you can be
found when you are wanted. Take this letter at
once, with an escort of two mounted drabants, to
Varna, for the Grand Vizier." *
And then he began to walk up and down the room
as if nothing had happened
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CHAPTER XXVIIL
THE MAD MAN.
In the most secret chamber of the Divdn were
assembled the Viziers for an important consultation.
The impending war was the subject of their grave
deliberations. For as Mohammed had said, there
ought to be one God in Heaven and one Lord on
earth, so many of the Faithful believed that the time
for the accomplishment of this axiom had now-
arrived.
Those wise men of the empire, those honourable
counsellors, Kucsuk and Kiuprile, were dead. Kara
Mustafa, an arrogant, self-confidant man, directed the
mind of the Divdn, and everyone followed his lead.
The Sultan himself was present, a handsome man
with regular features, but with an expression of
lassitude and exhaustion. During the whole con-
sultation he never uttered a word nor moved a
muscle of his face ; he sat there like a corpse.
One by one the ambassadors of the Foreign-
Powers were admitted. The orator of Louis XIV.
declared that the French King was about to attack
the Kaiser with all his forces ; if the Sultan would
also rise up against him, he would be able to seize
not only all Hungary but Vienna likewise
The Sultan was silent The Grand Vizier, answer-
ing for him, replied that Hungary had long since
belonged to the Sultan, and no doubt Vienna and
Poland would shortly share the same fate. The
Sultan could only suffer tributary kings on the
earth
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THE MAD MAN. 341
The ambassador drew a somewhat wry face at
these words, reflecting that France also was on the
earth ; then he withdrew.
After him came the envoys of Emeric. Tokoly,
offering the blood and the swords of the Hungarian
malcontents to the Sultan if he would help them to
win back Hungary.
This time the Sultan replied instead of Mustafa.
" The Grand Seignior greets his servants, and will
be gracious to them if they will help him to win
back Hungary."
The envoys noticed that their words had in-
geniously been twisted, but as they also had their
own arrikre-pensfes in regard to the Turks, they only
looked at each other with a smile and withdrew.
Then came the Transylvanian embassy — gentle,
mild-looking men, whose orator delivered an extra-
ordinarily florid discourse. His Highness, Michael
Apafi, they said, and all the estates of Transylvania,
were ready to draw their swords for the glory of the
Grand Seignior and invade Hungary.
Mustafa replied :
"The Grand Seignior permits you to help your
comrades in Hungary."
The orator would like to have heard something
different — for example, that the crown of Hungary
was reserved for Michael Apafi, the dignity of
Palatine for Teleki, etc, etc, and there he stood
scratching his ear till the Grand Vizier told him he
might go.
Ha, ha ! the Turkish policy was written in Turkish.
After the foreign envoys came the messengers from
the various pashas and commandants in Hungary,
who brought terrible tidings of raids, incursions, and
outrages on the part of the Magyar population
against the Turks. The Grand Vizier exclaimed
angrily at every fresh report, only the Sultan was
silent Last of all came the ulemas.
On their decisions everything depended.
Very solemnly they appeared before the Divdn.
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34» THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
First of all advanced the Chief Mufti in a long-
mantle reaching to his heels, and with a large beehive-
shaped hat upon his head ; his white beard reached to
his girdle. After him came two imams, one of whom
carried a large document in a velvet case, whose
pendant seal swung to and fro beneath its long
golden cord ; the other bent beneath the weight of
an enormous book — it was the Alkoran.
The Alkoran is a very nice large book, larger than
our corpus juris of former days, and in it may be
found everything which everyone requires : accu-
satory, condemnatory, and absolvatory texts for one
and the same thing.
The Mufti presented the Alkoran to the Sultan
and all the Viziers in turn, and each one of them
kissed it with deep reverence ; then he beckoned to
one of the imams to kneel down on a stool before the
Div&n and remain there resting on his hands and
knees, and placing the Koran on his back, began to
select expressly marked texts.
For seventy years he had thoroughly studied the
sacred volume, and could say that ke had read it
through seven hundred and ninety-three times. He>
therefore, knew all its secrets, and could turn at once
to the leaf on which the text he wanted to read aloud
could be found.
" The Alkoran saith," he read with unctuous devo-
tion, " ' the knot which hath been tied in the name of
Allah the hand of Allah can unloose 1 ' The Alkoran
saith moreover : € Wherever we may be, and whatever
we may be, everywhere we are all of us in the hand
of Allah/ Therefore this treaty of peace is also in
the hand of Allah, and the hand of Allah can unloose
everything. Furthermore, the Alkoran saith : ' If any
among thy suffering father's children implore help-
from thee, answer him not : come to me to-morrow,,
for my vow forbids me to rise up to-day ; or, if any
ask an alms of thee answer him not : to-day it cannot
be, for my vow forbids me to touch money; or, if
anyone beg thee to slay someone, answer him not r
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THE MAD MAN. 343
to-morrow I will help thee, for my vow forbids me to
draw the sword to-day ; verily the observance of thy
vow will be a greater sin to thee than its violation/
Moreover, thus saith the Alkoran: 'The happiness
of the nations is the first duty of the rulers of the
earth, yet the glory of Allah comes before it' And
finally it is written : ( Whoso formeth a league with
the infidel bindeth himself to wage war upon Allah,
yet vainly do the nations of the earth bind themselves
together that they may live long, for let Allah send
his breath upon them and more of them are destroyed
in one day than in ten years of warfare : kings and
beggars — it is all one.' "
At each fresh sentence the viziers and the ulemas
bowed their heads to the ground. Mustafa could not
restrain a blood-thirsty smile, which distorted his face
more and more at each fresh sentence, and at the
last word, with a fanatical outburst, he threw off the
mask altogether, and with a howl of joy kissed
repeatedly the hem of the Chief Mufti's mantle.
The Mufti then unclasped the velvet case which
contained the treaty of peace, and drawing forth the
parchment, which was folded fourfold, he unfolded it
with great ceremony, and placing it in the hands of
the second imam that he might hold it spread open
at both ends, he exhibited the document to the
viziers.
It was a long and beautiful script The initial
letter was as big as a painted castle and wreathed
around with a pattern of birds and flowers. The
whole of the first line of it was in ultramarine letters,
the other lines much smaller on a gradually diminish-
ing scale, and whenever the name of Allah occurred,
it was written in letters of gold. The Sultan's name
was always in red, the Kaiser's in bright green letters. <
At the foot of it was the fantastic flourish which
passed for the Sultan's signature, which he would
never have been able to write, but which was always
engraved on the signet ring which he wore on his
finger.
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344 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
* Lo ! here is the treaty/' said the Mufti, pointing
to the document, " from which, by the command of
Allah, I will now wash off the writing."
Thereupon he drew across the document a large
brush which he had previously dipped into a large
basin of water in which sundry chemicals had been
dissolved, and suddenly the writing began to fade
away, the Sultan's name written in red letters dis-
appeared instantly from the parchment, then the lines
written in black ink visibly grew dimmer. The
Kaiser's name written in bright green letters resisted
more obstinately, but at last these also vanished
utterly, and nothing more remained on the white
parchment but the name of God written in letters of
gold — the corrosive acid was powerless against that
Deep silence prevailed in the Divan, every eye was
fixed with pious attention on the bleaching script.
Then, seizing a drawn sword, the Mufti raised it
aloft and said :
M Having wiped away the writing which cast dis-
honour on the name of Allah, I now cut this
document in four pieces with the point of my sword."
And speaking thus, and while the imam stretched
the parchment out with both hands, the Mufti cut it
into four .pieces with the sword he held in his hand,
and placing the fragments in a pan, filled it up with
naptha from a little crystal flask.
" Lo 1 now I burn thee before the face of Allah I n
Then he passed an ignited wax taper over the pan,
whereupon the naptha instantly burst into flame, and
the fragments of the torn document were hidden by
the blue fire and the white smoke. Presently the
flame turned to red, the smoke subsided, and the
parchment was burnt to ashes.
" And now I scatter thy ashes that thou mayst be
dispersed to nothing," .said the Mufti ; and, taking
the ashes, he flung them out of the palace window.
The burnt paper rags, like black butterflies, descended
gently through the air and were cast by the wind into
the Bosphorus below. '
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THE MAD MAN. 345
No sooner was this accomplished than the pashas
and viziers all leaped from their seats and drew their
swords, swearing with great enthusiasm by the beard
of the Prophet that they would not return their
weapons to their sheaths till the crescent should shine
on the top of the tower of the Church of St Stephen
at Vienna.
At that moment the door-curtains were thrust
aside, and into the Divin rushed — Feriz Beg.
The face of the youth was scarce recognisable, his
turban was awry upon his forehead, his eyes, full of
dull melancholy, stared stonily in front of him, his
dress was untidy and dishevelled, his sword was
girded to his side, but its handle was broken.
Nobody had prevented him from rushing through
the numerous halls into the Divin, and when he
entered the ulemas parted before him in' holy horror.
When the youth reached the middle of the room, he
stood there glancing round upon the viziers with
folded arms, just as if he were counting how many of
them there were, one by one they all stood up before
him — nay, even the Sultan did so, and awaited his
words tremblingly.
Everyone in the East regards the insane with awe
and reverence, and if a crazy fakir were to stop the
greatest of the Caliphs in the way and say to him :
44 Dismount from thy horse, and change garments
with me," he would not dare to offer any opposition,
but would fulfil his desire, for a strange spirit is in
the man and God has sent it
How will it be then when the terrible spirit of
madness descends upon such a valiant warrior, such
a distinguished soldier as Feriz Beg, who, when only
six-and-twenty, had fought a hundred triumphant
battles, and frequently put to shame the grey beards
with his wisdom. And lo ! suddenly he goes mad,
and stops people in the street, and speaks such words
of terror to them that they cannot sleep after it
The youth, with quiet, gentle eyes and a sorrowful
countenance passes in review the faces of all who are
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346 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
present, and heartrending was the expression of deep
unutterable anguish in his voice when he spoke:
" Pardon me, high and mighty lords, for appearing
among you without an invitation — I who have now
no business at all in the world anywhere. The world
in which I lived is dead, it has withdrawn to Heaven
far from me ; all those who possessed my heart are
now high above my head, and now, I have no heart
and no feeling : neither love, nor valour, nor the
desire of fame and glory; in my veins the blood
flows backwards and forwards so that oftentimes I rush
roaring against the walls round about me and tear
carpets and pillows which have never offended me ;
and now again the blood stands still within me, my
arteries do not beat at all, so that I lie stiff and
staring like a dead man. I beg you all, ye high and
mighty lords, who in a brief time will go to Paradise,
to take a message from me thither."
The high lords listened horror-stricken to the calm
way in which the youth uttered these words, and
they saw each other's faces growing pale.
Feriz paid no attention to their horrified ex-
pressions.
w Tell to them whom I love, and with whom my
heart is, to give me back my heart, for without it I
am very poor. I perceive not the fragrance of the
rose, wine is not sweet to my lips, neither fire nor the
rays of the sun have any warmth, and the note of
the bugle-horn and the neighing of my charger find
no response in me. High and mighty lords, tell this
to those who are above if I myself go not thither
shortly."
There were present, besides Mustafa, Rezlin
Pasha, Ajas Beg, RifAt Aga, Kara Ogli the Kapudan
Pasha, and many more who promised themselves a
long life.
The Grand Seignior had always made a particular
favourite of Feriz, ,and be now addressed him in a
gentle, fatherly voice.
"My dear son, go back home; my viziers are
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THE MAD MAN. 347
preparing to subdue the world with unconquerable
armies. Go with them, in the din of battle thou wilt
find again thy heroic heart and be cured of thy
sickness.' 1
An extraordinary smile passed across the face of
Feriz, he waved aside the idea with his hand and
bent his head forwards, which is a way the Turks have
of expressing decided negation.
" This war cannot be a triumphant war, for men
are the cause thereof. Allah will bring it to nought.
Ye draw the sword at the invitation of murderers,
deceivers, and traitors. I have broken the hilt of my
own sword in order that I may not draw it forth.
They have killed those whom I love, how can I fight
in that army which was formed for them who were
the occasion of the ruin of my beloved ? "
At this thought the blood flew to the youth's
face, the spirit of madness flamed up in his eyes, he
rose to his full height before the Sultan, and he cried
with a loud, audacious voice :
" Thou wilt lose the war for which thou dost now
prepare, for thy viziers are incapable, thy soldiers are
cowards, thy allies are traitors, thy wise men are
fools, thy priests are hypocrites, and thou thyself art
an oath-breaker."
Then, as if he were suddenly sorry of what he had
said to the Sultan, he bent humbly over him and
taking hold of the edge of his garment raised it up
and kissed it — and then, regarding him with genuine
sympathy, murmured softly :
44 Poor Sultan I — so young, so young — and yet
thou must die."
And thereupon, with hanging head, he turned
away and prepared to go out None stayed him.
On reaching the door, he fumbled for his sword,
and perceiving when he touched it that the hilt
was missing, he suddenly turned back again, and
exclaimed in a low whisper :
"Think not that it will rust in its sheath. The
time will come when I shall again draw it, and it will
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348 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
drink its fill of blood. When those who now urge
us on to war shall turn against us, when those who
now stand in line with us shall face us with hostile
banners, then also will I return, though then ye will
no longer be present But ye shall look on from
Paradise above. So it will be : ye shall look on . . .
Poor young Sultan ! "
Having whispered these prophetic words, the mad
youth withdrew, and the gentlemen in the Divin were
so much disturbed by his words that, with faces bent
to the earth, they prayed Allah that He would turn
aside from them the evil prophesy and not suffer
to be broken asunder the weapons they had drawn
fox: the increase of His glory.
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CHAPTER XXIX,
PLEASANT SURPRISES.
ALL the chief generals, all the border pashas, had
received the Sultan's orders to gather their hosts
together and lead them against the armies of the
King of the Romans, and besiege the places which
were the pretext of the rupture — to wit, the fortresses
of Fiilek, Boszorminy, and Nagy Kalll
At the same time the Government of Transylvania
also received permission to attack Hungary with its
armies, as had already been decided at the Diet of
Szamosiijvdr.
Vast preparations were everywhere made. The
Magyar race is v yery hard to move to war, but
once in a quarrel ft does not waste very much time in
splitting straws.
Teleki, too, had attained at last to the dream of
his life and the object of all his endeavours, for
which he had knowingly sacrificed his own peace of
mind, and the lives of so many good patriots — he
was the generalissimo of the armies of Transylvania.
The Hungarian exiles in Transylvania hailed him
as their deliverer, and he saw himself a good big step
nearer to the place of Esterhdzy — the place of
Palatine of Hungary. And why not? Why should
he not stand among the foremost statesmen of his
age?
All the way to the camp at Fiilek he was the
object of flattery and congratulation; the Hungarians
gathered in troops beneath his banner, colonels and
captains belauded him. As for the worthy Prince, he
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3So THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
did not show himself at all, but sat in his tent and
read his books, and when he felt tired he took his
watch to pieces and put it together again.
At Fulek the Transylvanian army joined the camp
of Kara Mustafa.
Teleki dressed up the Prince in his best robes, and
trotted with him and his suite to the tent of the
Grand Vizier with growing pride when he heard the
guards blow their trumpets at their approach, and the
Grand Vizier as a special favour admitted them
straightway to his presence, allowed them to kiss
his hand, made the magnates sit down, and praised
them for their zeal and fidelity, giving each of them
a new caftan ; and when they were thus nicely
tricked out, he dismissed them with an escort of an
aga, a dragoman, and twelve cavasses to see the
whole Turkish camp to their hearts' content
Teleki regarded this permission as a very good
omen. Turkish generals are wont to be very sensitive
on this point, and it is a great favour on their part
when they allow foreigners to view their camps.
The dragoman took the Hungarian gentlemen
everywhere. He told them which aga was encamped
on this hill and which on that, how many soldiers
made up a squadron of horse, and how many guns,
and how many lances were in every company. He
pointed out to them the long pavilion made of deal
boards in which the gunpowder lay in big heaps, and
gigantic cannon balls were piled up into pyramids,
and round mortars covered with pitchy cloths, and
gigantic culverines, and siege-guns, and iron howitzers
lay on wooden rollers. The accumulated war
material would have sufficed for the conquest of
the world.
The gentlemen sightseers returned to their tents
with the utmost satisfaction, and, overjoyed at what
he had seen, the Prince gave a great banquet, to
which all the Hungarian gentlemen in his army were
also invited. The tables were placed beneath a
<juickly-impro vised baldachin ; and at the end of an
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PLEASANT SURPRISES; 351
excellent dinner the noble feasters began to make
merry, everyone at length saw his long-deferred
hopes on the point of fulfilment, and none more so
than Michael TelekL
One toast followed another, and the healths of the
Prince and of Teleki were interwoven with the
healths of everyone else present, so that worthy
Apafi began to think that it would really be a very
good thing if he were King of Hungary, while
Teleki held his head as high as if he were already
sitting in the seat of the Palatine.
Just when the revellers were at their merriest, a
loud burst of martial music resounded from the plain
outside, and a great din was audible as if the Turkish
armies were saluting a Prince who had just arrived.
The merry gentry at once leaped from their seats
and hurried to the entrance of the tent to see the
ally who was received with such rejoicing, and a cry
of amazement and consternation burst from their lips
at the spectacle which met their eyes.
Emeric Tokoly had arrived at the head of a host
of ten thousand Magyars from Upper Hungary. His
army consisted of splendid picked warriors on horse-
back, hussars in gold-braided dolmans, wolf-skin
pelisses, and shakos with falcon feathers. Tokoly
himself rode at the head of his host with princely
pomp ; his escort consisted of the first magnates of
Hungary, jewel-bedizened cavaliers in fur mantles
trimmed with swansdown, among whom Tokoly
himself was only conspicuous by his manly beauty
and princely distinction.
The face of Teleki darkened at the sight, while the
faces of all who surrounded him were suddenly
illuminated by an indescribable joy, and their
enthusiasm burst forth in eljens of such penetrating
enthusiasm at the sight of the young hero that
Teleki felt himself near to fainting.
Ah ! it was in a very different voice that they had
recently cried " Viva/" to him, it was a very different
sort of smile with which they had been wont to greet
him.
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35* THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
Meanwhile Tokoly had reached the front of the
marshalled Turkish army, which was drawn up in
two rows right up to the pavilion of the Grand Vizier,
allowing the youth and his suite to pass through
between them amidst a ceremonious abasement of
their horse-tail banners. The young general had
only passed half through their ranks when the Grand
Vizier came to meet him in a state carriage drawn
by six white horses.
From the hill on which Teleki stood he could see
everything quite plainly.
On reaching the carriage of the Grand Vizier,
Tokoly leaped quickly from his horse, whereupon
Kara Mustafa also descended from his carriage, and,
hastening to the young general, embraced him and
kissed him repeatedly on the forehead, made him
take a seat in the carriage beside him, and thus
conveyed him to his tent amidst joyful acclamations.
Teleki had to look on at all this ! That was very
different from the reception accorded to him and the
Prince of Transylvania.
He looked around him — gladness, a radiant smile
shone on every face. Oh I those smiles were so
many dagger-thrusts in his heart!
In half an hour's time Tokoly emerged from the
tent of the Grand Vizier. His head was encircled
by a diamond diadem which the Sultan had sent
for all the way to Belgrade, and in his hand was a
princely sceptre. When he remounted and galloped
away close beside the tents of the Transylvanians,
the Hungarians in Teleki's company could restrain
themselves no longer, but rushed towards Tokoly
and covered his hands, his feet, his garments, with
kisses, took him from his horse on to their shoulders,
and carried him in their arms back to camp.
Teleki could endure the sight no more; he fled
into his tent, and, throwing himself on his camp-
bedstead, wept like a child.
The whole edifice which he had reared so indus-
triously, so doggedly, amidst innumerable perils,
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PLEASANT SURPRISES. 353
during the arduous course of a long life — for which
he had sacrificed relations, friends, and all the great
and wise men of a kingdom, and pledged away the
repose of his very soul — had suddenly collapsed at
the appearance of a mere youth, whose only merit
was the exaggerated fame of a few successful
engagements! It was the heaviest blow he had
ever staggered under. Oh ! Fortune is indeed
ingenious in her disappointments.
Evening came, and still Teleki had not quitted his
tent Then the Prince went to see him. Teleki
wanted to hear nothing, but the Prince told him
everything.
41 Hearken, Mr. Michael Teleki ! The Hungarian
gentlemen have not come back to us, but remain
with Tokoly. And Tokoly also, it appears, doesn't
want to have much to do with us, for instead of
encamping with us he has withdrawn to the furthest
end of the Turkish army, and has pitched his tents
there."
Teleki groaned beneath the pain which the dis-
tilled venom of these words poured into his heart.
"Apparently, Mr. Michael Teleki, we have been
building castles in the air," continued Apafi with
jovial frankness. " We are evidently not of the stuff
of which Kings and Palatines of Hungary are made.
I cannot but think of the cat in the fable, who pulled
the chestnuts out of the fire with the claws of others. 1 '
Teleki shivered as if with an ague.
Apafi continued in his own peculiar vein of
cynicism : " Really, my dear Mr. Michael Teleki, I
should like it much better if we were sitting at home,
and Denis Banfy and Paul B£ldi and the other
wise gentlemen were sitting beside me, and I were
listening to what they might advise."
Teleki clenched his fists and stamped his feet, as
much as to say : * I would not allow that"
Then with a bitter smile he watched the Prince as
he paced up and down the tent, and said with a cold,
metallic voice ;
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354 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
" One swallow does not make a summer. If ten
or twelve worthless fellows desert to Tokoly, much
good may it do him I The army of the real Hun*
garian heroes will not follow their example, and when
it can fight beneath the banner of a Prince it will not
fling itself into the arms of a homeless adventurer."
"Then it would be as well if your Excellency
spoke to them at once, for methinks that this night
the whole lot of them may turn tail."
Teleki seemed impressed by these words. He
immediately ordered his drabants to go to the
captains of the army collected from Hungary who
had joined Apafi at Fulek, and invite them to a
conference in his tent at once.
The officers so summoned, with a good deal of
humming and hahing, met together in Teleki's
tent, and there the Minister harangued them for two
good hours, proving to demonstration what a lot of
good they might expect from cleaving to Apafi, and
what a lot of evil if they allowed themselves to be
deluded by Tokoly, till the poor fellows were quite
tired out and cried : " Hurrah 1 " in order that he
might let them go the sooner.
But that same night they all fled to the camp 01
Tokoly. None remained with Apafi but his faithful
Transylvanians.
But even now Teleki could not familiarise himself
with the idea of playing a subordinate part here, but
staked everything on a last, desperate cast — he went
to the Grand Vizier. He announced himself, and
was admitted.
The Grand Vizier was alone in his tent with his
dragoman, and when he saw Teleki he tried to make
his unpleasant face more repulsive than it was by
nature, and inquired very viciously : " Who art thou ?
Who sent thee hither ? What dost thou want ? *
" I, sir, am the general of the Transylvanian armies,
Michael Teleki ; you know me very well, only yester-
day I was here with the Prince."
Just as if the two speakers did not understand each
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PLEASANT SURPRISES. 355
other's language, the dragoman had to interpret their
questions and answers.
*' I hope," replied the Grand Vizier, " thou dost not
expect me to recognise at sight the names of- all the
petty princes and generals whom I have ever cast
eyes on? My master, the mighty Sultan, has so
many tributary princes in Europe, Asia, and Africa,
that their numbers are incalculable, and all of them are
superior men to thee, how canst thou expect me to
recognise thee among so many?"
Teleki swallowed the insult, and seeing that the
Grand Vizier was anxious to pick a quarrel with him,
he came straight to the point
" Gracious sir, I have something very important to
say to you if you will grant me a private interview."
The Grand Vizier pretended to fly into a rage at
these words.
" Art thou mad or drunk that thou wouldst have a
private interview with me, although I don't under-
stand Hungarian and thou dost not understand
Turkish, or perchance thou wouldst like me to learn
Hungarian to please thee ? Ye learn Latin, I suppose,
though no living being speaks it? And ye learn
German and French and Greek, yet ye stop short at
the language of the Turks, though the Turks are
your masters and protectors! For a hundred and
fifty years our armies have passed through your
territories, yet how many of you have learned
Turkish? Tis true our soldiers have learnt Hun-
garian, for thy language is as sticky as resin on a
growing tree. Therefore, if thou art fool enough to
ask me for a private interview — go home and learn
Turkish first!"
Teleki bowed low, went home and learnt Turkish
— that is to say, he packed up a couple of thousand
thalers in a sack — and, accompanied by two porters
to carry them, returned once more to the tent of the
Grand Vizier.
And now the Grand Vizier understood everything
which the magnate wished to say. The dragoman
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356 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
interpreted everything beautifully. He said the
Sultan was building a fortress on the ice when he
entrusted the fate of the Hungarians to such a flighty
youth as Emeric Tokoly. How could a young man,
who was such a bad manager of his own property,
manage the affairs of a whole kingdom? And so
fond was he of being his own master, that he suffered
himself to be exiled from Transylvania with the loss
of all his property rather than submit to the will of
his lawful Prince. The man who had already
rebelled against two rulers would certainly not be
very loyal to a third ; while Apafi, on the other hand,
had all his life long been a most faithful vassal of the
Sublime Porte, and, modest, humble man as he was,
would be far more useful than Tokoly, whom the
Porte would always be obliged to help with men and
money, whereas the latter would always be able to
help with men and money the Porte and its
meritorious viziers — utifigura docet.
Mustafa listened to the long oration, took the
money, and replied that he would see what could be
done.
Teleki was not quite clear about the impression
his words had made, but he did not remain in uncer-
tainty for long ; for scarcely had he reached the tent
of the Prince than a defterdar with twelve cavasses
came after him, and signified that he was commanded
by the Grand Vizier immediately to seize Michael
Teleki, fling him into irons, and bring him before a
council of pashas.
Michael Teleki turned pale at these words. The
faithless dragoman had told everything to Tokoly,.
who had demanded satisfaction from the Grand Vizier,
who, without the least scruple of conscience, was now
ready to present to another the head of the very man
from whom he had accepted presents only an hour
before.
The magnate now gave himself up for lost, but the
Prince approached him, and tapping him on the
shoulder, said :
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PLEASANT SURPRISES. 357
u If I were the man your Excellency is pleased to
believe me and make other people believe too — that is
to say, a coward yielding to every sort of compulsion
— in an hour's time your Excellency would not have
a head remaining on your shoulders. But everyone
shall see that they have been deceived in me."
Then, turning towards the defterdar, he said to
him in a firm, determined voice :
"Go back to your master, and say to him that
Michael Teleki is the generalissimo of my armies and
under my protection, and at the present moment I
have him in my tent Let anyone therefore who has
any complaint against him, notify the same to me,
and I will sit in judgment over him. But let none
dare to lay a hand upon him within the walls of my
tent, for I swear by the most Holy Trinity that I will
break open the head of any such person with my
cudgel I would be ready to go over to the enemy with
my whole army at once rather than permit so much
as a mouse belonging to my household to be caught
within my tent by a foreign cat, let alone the disgrace
of handing over my generalissimo ! M
The defterdar duly delivered the message of the
enraged Prince to the Grand Vizier. Emeric Tokoly
was with him at the time, and the two gentlemen on
hearing the vigorous assertion of the Prince agreed
that after all Michael Apafi was really a very worthy
man, and sending back the defterdar, instructed him
to say with the utmost politeness and all due regard
for the Prince that so long as Michael Teleki remained
in the Prince's tent not a hair of his head should be
crumpled ; but he was to look to it that he did not
step out of the tent, for in that case the cavasses who
were looking out for him would pounce upon him
at once and treat him as never a Transylvanian
generalissimo was treated before ; and now, too, he
had only the Prince to thank for his life.
Teleki was annihilated. Nothing could have
wounded his ambitious soul so deeply as the con-
sciousness that the Prince was protecting him. To
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think that this man, whom the whole kingdom
regarded as cowardly and incapable, could be great
when he himself had suddenly become so very small 1
His nimbus of wisdom, power, and valour had
vanished, and he saw that the man whom he had
only consulted for the sake of obtaining his signature
to prearranged plans was wiser and more powerful
and more valiant than he.
Peering through the folds of the teat he could see
that, faithful to the threatening message, the cavasses
were prowling around the tent and telling the loutish
soldiers that if Teleki stepped out they would seize
him forthwith. The Szeklers laughed and shouted
with joy thereat.
Then the magnate began to reflect whether it would
not be best if he drew his sword, and rushing out,
slash away at them till he himself were cut to
pieces.
What a ridiculous ending that would be !
Towards evening Emeric Tokoly paid a visit to the
Prince. He approached the old man with the respect
of a child, did obeisance, and would have kissed his
hand, but Apafi would not permit it, but embraced
him, kissed him on the forehead repeatedly, and made
him sit down beside him on the bear-skin of his
camp-bed.
The young leader feelingly begged the old man's
pardon for all the trouble that he had caused him
and Transylvania.
u It is I who ought to beg pardon of your Excel-
lency" said Apafi in a submissive voice.
" Not at all, your Highness and dear Father. I
know that you have always loved me, but evil
counsellors have whispered such scandalous things to
you about me that you were bound to hate me — but
God requite them for it if I cannot"
41 Be magnanimous towards them, my dear son ;
lorgtve them, for my sake."
Tokoly was silent He knew that Teleki was in the
tent, he saw him, but he would not take any notice
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PLEASANT SURPRISES. 359
of him. At last, without even looking towards him,
he said, in the most passionate, threatening voice :
" Look, ye, Teleki, you have practised all sorts of
devices against me, but if you put your nose outside
the tent of the Prince you will eat his bread no more.
You would be in my power now, and here your head
would lie, but for his Highness whom I look upon as
a father."
Michael Teleki was silent, but future events were
to prove that he had heard very well what was now
spoken.
After surrendering the fortress of Ftilek to the
Turks, the Transylvanian gentlemen returned home
with their army; and Michael Teleki, when he got
home, paid a visit to the church where lay the ashes
of Denis Banfy, and hiding his face on the tomb, he
wept bitterly over the noble patriot whom he had
sacrificed to his ambitious plans.
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CHAPTER XXX.
A MAN ABANDONED BY HIS GUARDIAN-ANGEL.
One blow followed hard upon another.
In the following year the Sultan assembled a
formidable host against Vienna, and the Transylvanian
bands also had to go. Teleki would have avoided
the war, but his representations and pretexts fell not
upon listening ears. They asked him why he, who
had hitherto urged on the campaign, wanted to with-
draw from it now that it was in full swing? If he
had liked the beginning, the end also should please
him.
But the end was exceedingly bitter.
The formidable host surrounding Vienna was
scattered in a single night by the heroic sword of
Sobieski, the gigantic military enterprise was ruined.
The Transylvanian forces took no part in these
operations. During the seige of Vienna they had
been left at Raab, and Teleki did not let the
opportunity pass. While the stupid Turks were
fighting in the trenches, he entered into communica-
tion with the German commander at Raab and
attached himself to the winning side.
Everything which the insane Feriz had prophesied
in the Div&n was literally fulfilled.
The Turkish armies were everywhere routed. They
lost the fortresses of Grand Visegrad and Ersekujvdr
one after the other. The fortress of Nograd was
struck by lightning, which fired the powder-magazine
and blew up the garrison. Finally Buda was besieged
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ABANDONED BY HIS GUARDIAN-ANGEL. 361
and captured in the sight of the Grand Vizier, and
after a domination of one hundred and fifty years, the
half-moons were hauled down from the bastions and
crosses re-occupied their places.
And all those who were present at the Divan
fulfilled, one by one, the prophecy that they should
see Paradise before long.
Rislan Pasha fell beneath the walls of Buda at the
head of the Janissaries, the Vizier of Buda was
throttled by order of Kara Mustafa after the battle
was lost, Rifa Aga was drowned in the Danube
among the fugitives, Kara Ogli fell defending the
ramparts of Buda, Tokoly killed Ajas Pasha at the
Sultan's command ; and, after the fall of Buda, Olaj
Beg brought to Kara Mustafa for his own use the
silken cord and the purple purse. It was the last
purse which Kara Mustafa ever saw, for after his
decapitation his head was put inside it
And, finally, the people of Stambul, maddened by
so many losses and reinforced by the rebellious
Janissaries, rushed upon the Seraglio, cut down the
counsellors of the Sultan, and threw the Sultan
himself into the same dungeon in which he had let
his own brother languish for thirty-nine years. The
brother was now set on the throne, and the
dethroned Sultan died in the dungeon.
And this also was fulfilled that those who had
stirred up the Turks to begin the war turned against
them at the end of it Transylvania deposited its
oath of homage in the hands of Carafla. and Michael
Teleki, who became a Count of the Holy Roman Empire,
opened the gates of the towns and fortresses to
German garrisons. The Prince paid the victors
thirteen thousand florins, which it took heavy wagons
two weeks to convey from Fogaras to Nagyszeben.
But Michael Teleki, in addition to his countly
escutcheon, got a present of a silver table service
which cost ten thousand florins. So Transylvania
became imperial territory, and its alliance with the
Porte was dissolved
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362 THE SLAVES (fr THE PADISHAH.
And then it was that God called to Himself the
last lovable figure in our history, the virtuous and
magnanimous Anna Bornemissza.
Only after her death did Apafi feel what his wife
had been to him, his guardian-angel, his consoler in
all his sorrows, the brightest part of his life, and
when that light set, everything around him was
doubly dark. Every misfortune, every trouble, now
weighed doubly heavy on his mind and heart ; he
had no longer any re luge against persecuting sorrow.
He fled from one town to another like a hunted wild
beast which can find no refuge from the dart which
transfixes it At last he barricaded himself in his
room, which he did not quit for six weeks ; and if
visitors came to see him he complained to them like
a child :
" I am starving to death. I have lost everything.
It is a year since I got a farthing from my estates or
my mines or my salt-works. If the farrier comes I
cannot pay him his bill for my mantle, for I haven't
got a stiver. What will become of my son when I
am gone, poor little Prince ? There's not enough to
send him to school"
He began to get quite crazy, and could neither eat,
drink, nor sleep. The whole day he would stride up
and down his room, and utter strange things in a
loud voice What troubled him most was that he
must die of hunger.
At last those about him hit upon a remedy. Every
day they laid purses of money before him ^nd said :
"This sum Stephen Apor has sent from your
property, and that amount Paul Inezedi has collected
from your salt-works. Why should your Highness
be anxious when there is such lots of money ?"
And the next day they presented the same pflrses
to him over again, and invented some fresh story.
And this simple deceit somewhat pacified the poor old
man, but the old worries had so affected his mind,
never very strong at any time, that he could never
recover his former spirits. He grew duller and more
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ABANDONED BY HIS GUARDIAN-ANGEL. 363
stupid every day, and often when be lay down he
would sleep a couple of days at a stretch.
And at last the Almighty had mercy upon him
and called him away from this vale of tears ; and he
went to that land where the Turks plunder not, and
there is no warfare.
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CHAPTER XXXI.
THE NEWLY-DRAWN SWORD.
THE German armies were now in complete possession
of Transylvania, the Turks were everywhere driven
back and trampled down, the hereditary Prince of
Bavaria took Belgrade by storm and put twelve
thousand Janissaries to the edge of the sword. Thus
the g^ate of the Turkish Empire was broken open, and
the victoriously advancing host, under the Prince of
Baden, crushed the remains of the Turkish army at
Nish. Then Bulgaria and Albania were subjugated,
the sea shore was reached, and only the Haemus
Mountains stood between the invaders and Stambul.
The deluge left nothing untouched, even little
Wallachia, whose fortunate situation, wild mountains,
and villainous roads had hitherto saved it from
invasion, saw the approach of the conquering banners.
Old S was still the Prince, and he now gave
a brilliant example of the dexterity of Wallachian
diplomacy, which at the same time illustrates the
simplicity of his character.
The armies invading Wallachia were entrusted to
the care of General Heissler, who consequently wrote
to Prince S— informing him that he was advancing
on Bucharest through the Transylvanian Alps with
ten thousand men, therefore he was to provide winter
quarters and provisions for his army, as he intended
to winter there.
At exactly the same time the Tartar Khan gave
the Prince to understand that he intended to invade
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THE NEWLY-DRAWN SWORD. 365
Moldavia in order that he might follow the move*
ments of the Transylvanian army close at hand.
The Prince liked the one proposition as little as
the other, so he sent the Tartar Khan's letter to
General Heissler bidding him beware, as a great force
was coming against him, and he sent Heissler's letter
to the Tartar Khan advising him in a friendly sort
of way not to move too far as Heissler was now
advancing in his rear.
Consequently both armies turned aside from the
Principality, and Wallachia had to support neither
the Germans nor the Tartars.
This is the diplomacy of little states.
Amidst the wildly romantic hills of Lebanon is a
pleasant valley for which Nature herself has a peculiar
preference. I Amidst the gigantic mountains which
encircle a vast hollow on every side of it, rises a
roundish mound. On level ground it would be
accounted a hill, but in the midst of such a range of
snowy giants it emerges only like a tiny heap of
earth, and to this day nothing grows on it but the
cedar — the finest, darkest, most widely spreading
specimens of that noble and fragrant tree are here
to be found. A foaming mountain stream gurgles
down it on both sides, a little wooden bridge connects
the opposing banks, and in the midst of the bridge a
rock projecting from the water clings to the mountain
side. Far away among the blue forests shine forth
the white roofless little houses of the city of Edena,
which, built against the mountain side, peer forth
like some card-built castle, and still farther away
' through gaps in the hills the Syrian sea is visible.
Here in former days on the heights stood the
romantic and poetical kiosk of Feriz Beg.
The youth, with dogged persistence, continued to
live for years in this sublime solitude with the din of
battle all around him. The prophecy which he had
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3*6 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
once pronounced in the Divin was whispered abroad
among the people, ran through the army, and as
every one of his sayings was severally fulfilled, the
more widely there spread in the hearts of the soldiers
the superstitious belief that till he seized his sword
they would everywhere be defeated, but when he
should again appear on the battlefield the fortune of
war would turn and become favourable once more to
the Ottoman arms.
Long ago the Divdn had wished to profit by this
blind belief, and countless embassies had been sent
to the youthful hermit in his solitude announcing the
f^U of generals, the loss of battles, the pressure of peril.
Nothing could move Feri7» To all these tidings
he replied :
" Thus it must come to pass ! Doves do not spring
from serpents' eggs. Your rulers are those who took
it upon them to wipe out a sacred oath from the
patient pages, who tore up and burnt and scattered
to the winds the vow that was made before God,
and now ye likewise shall be wiped from the page
of history and your memory shall be laden with
reproaches. Learn ye, therefore, that it is dangerous
to play with the name of Allah, and though many
of you grow so high that his head touches the
Heavens — yet he is but a man, and the earth moves
beneath his feet, and presently he shall fall and
perish."
The men perceived that these words were not so
bad as they seemed to be at first sight, and after
every fresh defeat, more and more of his old acquaint-
ances came to see him and begged and prayed him
to seize his sword once more and let himself be chosen
leader of the host.
He sternly rejected every offer. No allurement
was capable of making him change his resolution.
" When the time comes for me to draw my sword/'
he said, " I will come without asking. That time will
come none the quicker for anyone's beseeching, but
come it will one day and not tarry."
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THE NEWLY-DRAWN SWORD. 367
And, indeed, the advent of that time had become
a matter of necessity for the Ottoman Empire. The
banners of the German Empire were waving in the
very heart of Turkey; the Poles had recovered
Podolia, the Venetians were on the Turkish islands,
and at last Transylvania also broke with the Porte
and opened her fortresses to the enemies of the
Padishah.
The new Sultan collected fresh armies, military
enthusiasm was stimulated by great rewards, fresh
alliances were formed, and among the new allies the
one who enjoyed the greatest confidence was Emeric
Tdkdly, who was proclaimed Prince of Transylvania,
and orders were given to the Tartar Khan and the
Prince of Moldavia to support him with their forces.
Tokoly, always arid of fame and glory, threw him-
self heart and soul into this new enterprise, but it was
only when he saw the army with which he was to
conquer Transylvania that he had misgivings. His
soldiers were good for robbing and burning, they had
been used to that for a long time, but when it came
to fighting there was no power on earth capable of
keeping them together. What could he make of
soldiers whose sole knowledge of the art of warfare
consisted in running backwards and forwards, whose
most sensible weapon was the dart, and who, when-
ever they heard a gun go off, stuffed up their ears
and bolted like so many mice? And with these
ragamuffins he was expected to fight regular, highly-
disciplined troops.
Suddenly an idea occurred to him. He sat down
and wrote a letter and delivered it to a swift courier,
enjoining him not to rest or tarry till he had placed
it in the proper hands.
This letter was addressed to Feriz Beg. In it
Tokoly informed him of the course of events in
Transylvania, and it concluded thus :
" Behold, what you prophesied has come to pass,
those who began the war along with us now continue
the war against us. Remember that you held out
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368 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
the promise of joining us when such a time came ;
fulfil your promise."
Feriz Beg got this letter early in the morning, and
the moment after he had read it he ordered his
stableman instantly to saddle his war-charger, he
chose from among his swords those which smote the
heaviest, exchanged his grey mantle for a splendid
and costly costume, gave a great banquet to all his
retainers, and bade them make merry, for in an hour's
time, he would be off to the wars.
The imperial army was making itself quite at home
in Albania. Beautiful scenery and beautiful women
smiled upon the victors ; there was money also and
to spare. And soon came the rumour that a gigantic
Tartar host was approaching the Albanian mountains,
in number exceeding sixty thousand. The imperial
army was no more than nine thousand ; but they only
laughed at the rumour, they had seen far larger armies
fly before them. The pick of the Turkish host, the
Spahis, the Janissaries, had cast down their arms
before them in thousands; while it was the talk of
the bazaars that all that the Tartars were good
for was to devastate conquered territory. Besides,
reinforcements were expected from Hungary, where
the Prince of Baden was encamped beneath Nandor-
Feh&var with a numerous army.
The leader of the Albanian forces was the Prince of
Hanover.
He was a pupil of the lately deceased Piccolomini,
and though he inherited his valour he was scarcely
his equal in wisdom.
On hearing of the approach of the Tartar army he
assembled his captains and held a council of war.
The enemy was assumed to be the old mob which
used to turn tail at the first cannon-shot, and could
not be overtaken because of the superior swiftness of
its horses. And indeed it was the old mob, but a
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THE NEWLY-DRAWN SWORD. 369
new spirit now inspired it ; it followed a new leader
whom the enemy had never put to flight or beaten,
and that leader was Feriz Beg.
Tokoly's letter had speedily brought the young hero
all the way from Syria to Stambul to offer his sword
and his genius to the new Sultan, and the Sultan had
charged him to lead the Tartar hordes against the
imperial army.
When Feriz, from the top of a hill, saw the forces
of the Prince of Hanover all wedged together in a
compact mass on the plain before him like a huge
living machine only awaiting a propelling hand to set
it in motion, he quickly sent the Tartars who were
with him back into the fir-woods that they might
well cover their darts with the tar and turpentine
exuding from the trees, and this done, he sent them
to gallop round the Prince's camp and take up their
position well within range.
The Prince observed the movement but left them
alone ; oftentimes had the Turks attempted a simple
assault upon the German camp ; oftentimes had their
threefold superior forces surrounded the small, well-
ordered camp and assaulted it from every side, and
the Germans used always politely to allow them to
come within range of their guns and then discharge
all their artillery at once — and generally that was the
end of the whole affair.
Feriz, however, made no assault upon them, but got
his Tartars to surround them, commanding them to
set their darts on fire and discharge them into the air
so that they might fall down into the German camp.
According to this plan they could fire at the enemy
at a much greater distance off than the enemy could
fire upon them, for the dart, flying in a curve could
reach further than the straight-going musket balls of
those days, and wherever it fell its sharp point inflicted
a wound, whereas the bullet was often spent before it
reached its mark.
Suddenly a flaming flood of darts darkened the air
and the burning resinous bolts fell from all sides into
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the crowded ranks of the imperial army ; the points
of the darts fastened in the backs of the horses, the
burning drops fell upon the faces and garments of the
warriors, burning through the texture and inflicting
grievous wounds ; the horses began to rear violently
at this unexpected attack ; the gunners, cursing and
swearing, began to discharge their guns anyhow at
the enemy ; nobody paid any attention to the orders
of the general, discipline was quite at an end ; the
burning darts were destructive of all military tactics,
for there was no refuge from them, and every dart
struck its man.
Then Feriz Beg blew with the trumpets, and
suddenly the imperial troops were attacked from
all sides. They were unable to repel the attack in
the regular way, but intermingled with their assailants,
fought man to man. The picked German troopers
quitted themselves like men, not one of them departed
without taking another with him to the next world,
but the Turks outnumbered them, and just when the
Prince's army was exhausted by the attacks of the
Tartars, Feriz brought forward his well-rested reserves,
who burned with the desire to wash out the shame of
former defeats. The Prince of Hanover fell on the
battle-field with the rest of his army. Not one
escaped to tell the tale.
This was the first victory which turned the fortunes
of war once more in favour of the Turks after so many
defeats.
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CHAPTER XXXII
THE LAST DAY.
IT was well known m Transylvania that the Porte
had proclaimed Tokoly Prince and given into his
hands armies wherewith he might invade the Princi-
pality and conquer it, so General Heissler gave orders
to the counties and the Szeklers to rise up in defence
of the realm, which they accordingly did.
The Hungarian forces were commanded by
Balthasar Mack&si and Michael Teleki himself; the
leader of the Germans was Heissler, with Generals
Noscher and Magni, and Colonel Doria under him,
all of them heroic soldiers of fortune, who, all the way
from Vienna to Wallachia, had never seen the Turks
otherwise than as corpses or fugitives.
When Tokoly was approaching through Wallachia
with his forces, Heissler quickly closed all the passes,
and placed three regiments at the Iron Gates, while
he himself took up a position in the Pass of Bozza,
and there pitched his camp amidst the mountains.
The encamped forces were merry and sprightly
enough, there was lots to eat and drink of all sorts,
and the Szeklers were quite close to their wives
and houses, so that they did not feel a bit homesick —
only Teleki was perpetually dissatisfied. He would
have liked the forces to be marching continually from
one pass to another and sentinels to be standing on
guard night and day on every footpath which led into
the kingdom.
The third week after the camp had been pitched
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at Bozza he suddenly said to the general with a very
anxious face :
" Sir, what if Tdkdly were to appear at some other
gate of the kingdom while we are lying here ? "
"Every avenue is closed against him" answered
Heissler.
11 But suppose he got in before we came here ? "
M The trouble then would not be how he got in but
how he could get out again."
But Teleki wanted to show that he also knew
something of the science of warfare, so he said with
the grave face of an habitual counsellor :
" I do not think it expedient that we worthy soldiers
should be crammed up into a corner of the kingdom.
In my opinion it would be much safer if, after guard-
ing every pass, we took up a position equi-distant
between Torcsvir and Bozza."
Now for once Teleki was right, but for that very
reason Heissler was all the more put out It was
intolerable that a lay-general should suggest some-
thing to him which he could not gainsay.
And the worst of it was Teleki would not leave
the general alone. "I am participating in nothing
here," said he, " make use of me, give me something
to do, and I will do it — occupation is what I want."
" I'll give it you at once," said Heissler, and putting
his arm through Teleki's he led him to his tent, there
made him sit down beside him at a round table, sent
one of the yawning guards to summon Noscher,
Magni, Doria and the other generals, made them sit
down by the side of Teleki, sat down at the table
himself, and drawing a pack of cards from his pocket,
gave it to Teleki with the words :
" Here's some occupation for you — you deal ! "
" What, sir ! " burst forth Teleki, quite upset by
the jest, "play at cards when the enemy stands before
us?"
" How can we be better employed when the enemy
is not before us? Do you know how to play at
landsknecht ? "
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THE LAST DAY. 373
u I do not"
u Then we'll teach you."
And they did teach him, for in a couple of hours
they had won from him a couple of hundred ducats,
whereupon Teleki, on the pretext that he had no
more money, retired from the game.
It was not the loss of a little money which vexed
him so much as the scant respect paid to his
counsels.
The other gentlemen continued the game.
Heissler suddenly by a grand coup won all the
ready-money of the other generals, so that at last
there was a great heap of thalers and ducats in front
of him, and his three-cornered hat was filled to the
brim with money.
The losing party tried to console itself with jests.
" Well, well ! lucky at cards, luckless in love ! "
"Eh!" said Heissler, sweeping together his
winnings, " I have only had one love in my life, and
that is on a battlefield, but there I have always
been lucky."
At that moment a rapid galloping was heard, and
after a brief parley with the guard outside, a dusty
dragoon courier entered the tent and whispered
breathlessly in Heissler's ear:
"Tokol)?s advance guard is before Torcsv&r, it
attacked and cut down the troops posted in the pass,
only the Szeklers still hold out ; if we don't come
quickly the pass will be taken."
Heissler suddenly swept the cards from the table,
and snatching up his hat so that the money in it
rolled away in every direction, he clapped it on his
head, and drawing his sword exclaimed : " To horse,
gentlemen ! Quick ! Towards Torcsvir ! We shall
arrive in good time, I know ! "
" Well ! wasn't I right?" growled Teleki.
** Oh, there's no harm done ! Blow the trumpets,
we must strike our tents ; lfct the camp fires burn, and
at the third sound of the trumpet let everyone advance
towards Torcsvar. A company and a couple of
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374 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
mortars will be enough to guard the pass. AH
right now, Mr. Michael Teleki ! "
Then he also took horse. Teleki too hastened
back to his levies, and soon the whole host was
trotting on in the dark towards TdrcsvAr.
It was the 19th August, such a silent summer night
that not a leaf was stirring. Against the beautiful
starry sky rose the majestic snowy Alps which
encircle Transylvania within their mighty chain ;
everything was still, only now and then through the
melancholy night resounded the din and bustle of the
warriors hurrying towards Torcsvir.
Here in the mountain-chasm a wide opening is
visible which presently contracts so much that two
carriages can scarce advance along it abreast The
road goes deep down between two rocks, and if a few
hundred resolute and determined men planted
themselves in that place, they could hold it against
the largest armies.
On the other side of Moldavia, looking downwards,
could be seen the camp-fires of the hosts of Tokoly,
who was encamped on the farther side of the Alps,
occupying a vast extent of ground.
In front all was dark. After the first surprise
caused by some hundreds of dragoons who had
penetrated into Moldavia, the Szeklers had quickly
blocked the pass by felling trees across it, retired
to the mountain summits, and received the advancing
Tartars with such showers of stones that they were
compelled to desist from any further advance and
turn back again.
Great commotion was observable in the Turkish
camp. The Tartars were roasting a whole ox on a
huge spit, and cut pieces off it while it was roasting ;
some jovial Wallachians, a little elated by wine, began
dancing their national dances ; on a hill the Hungarian
hussars were blaring their farogatos^ whose penetrat-
ing voices frequently pierced the most distant recess
of the snowy Alps.
But just because the camp had begun making
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THE LAST DAY. 375
merry the outposts had been carefully disposed.
The leaders of the host were youths in age but
veterans in military experience; they were keeping
watch for everyone.
They met as they were going their rounds and,
without observing it, strayed somewhat from the
camp and advanced without a word along a mountain
path.
At last Feriz broke the silence by remarking
gravely to Tokoly :
" Is it not desperating to see a mountain before
you and not be able to fly ?"
u Especially when your desires are on the other
side of that mountain."
14 What are your desires ? " said Feriz bitterly, " in
comparison with mine; you have only a thirst for
glory, I have a thirst for blood/'
" Rut mine is a still stronger impulse/' said Tokoly ;
" I have a wife/'
"Ah! I understand, and you want to see your
wife ? I also should like to see her if I am not slain.
And is the lady worthy of you."
" One must have lived very far from this kingdom
not to have heard of her," said Tokoly proudly.
M My name has not given such glory to Helen as her
name has to me. When everyone in Hungary laid
down their arms, and I myself fled from the kingdom,
she herself remained in the fortress of Munk&cs and
defended it as valiantly as any man could da Helen
stood like a man upon the bastions amidst the
whirring of the bullets and the thunder of the guns,
extinguished the bombs cast into the fortress with
huge moistened buffalo-skins, fired off the cannons
against the besiegers with her own hands, and cut
down the soldiers who attempted to storm the walls,
spiked their guns, and burnt their tents."
At this Feriz grew enthusiastic.
"We will save this brave woman; is she still
defending herself?"
" No. My chief confidant — a man whom I trusted
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376 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
would carry out my ideas, a man whom I found a
beggar and made a gentleman — betrayed her, and
they now hold her captive. Believe me, Feriz, if
they gave her back to me I would perchance for ever
forget my dream of glory and renounce the crown I
seek, but to win her back I'll go through hell itself,
and you will see that I shall go through this
mountain chain also, for though I have not the
strength to fly over it, I have the patience to crawl
over it"
Feriz Beg sighed gloomily.
"Alas! I have no one for whose sake I might
hasten into battle."
Early next morning Tokoly came over to Feriz's
quarters and told him that he had just received
tidings that Heissler had arrived during the night,
having galloped without stopping through Szent
Peter to Torcsvir. Teleki, too, was with him.
That name seemed to electrify the young Turk.
He leapt quickly from his couch, and, seizing his
sword, raised it towards Heaven and cried with a
savage expression which had never been on his face
before : " 1 thank thee, Allah, that thou hast delivered
him into my hands ! "
The two young generals then consulted together in
private for about an hour, after sending everyone out
of their tent. Then they came forth and reviewed
their forces. Feriz selected his best Janissaries and
Spahis, Tokoly the Hungarian hussars and the
swiftest of the Tartars, and with this little army,
numbering about six thousand, they marched off
without saying whither. The vast camp meanwhile
was intrusted to the care of the Prince of Moldavia,
who was charged to stand face to face night and day
over against the Transylvanian army, and not move
from the spot
Meanwhile the two young leaders, with their
picked band, made their way among the hills by
the dark, sylvan mountain paths, whose wilderness
no human foot had ever yet trod. Anyone looking
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THE LAST DAY. 377
down upon them from the rocks above would have
called their enterprise foolhardy. Now they had to
crawl down precipitous slopes on their hands and
knees ; now gigantic rocks barred their way, which
enclosed them within a narrow, mountainous gorge
whence there was no exit ; here and there they had
to cling on to the roots of the stout shrubs growing
out of the crevices of the rocks, or pull themselves
up, man by man, and horse by horse, by means of
ropes fastened to the trunks of trees. In these
regions nought dwelt but savage birds of prey, and
the startled golden eagle looked down in wonder
from his stony lair at the panting, toiling host — what
did such a multitude of men seek in that desolate
wilderness ?
The Transylvanian gentlemen from the vantage-
point of a lofty mountain ridge watched the two
opposing hosts facing each other in front of the
defiles. Now the Szeklers would burst forth from
the woods on the straying Tartars and drive them
back to their tents, and now like a disturbing swarm
of wasps the Tartars and Wallachians would force
the Szeklers back to the very borders of the forest.
It was great fun to watch all this from the lofty ridge
where stood Heissler, Doria, and Teleki observing
the manly sport through long telescopes.
Suddenly the sentinels brought to Heissler a
Wallachian who had given the pickets to understand
that he had brought a message from the Prince of
Wallachia to the commander-in-chief.
" No doubt it is to tell you once more not to go
into Wallachia again, for the enemy has eaten it up,"
said Teleki, turning to Heissler, who had got to the
bottom of the Prince's former craftiness. " What is
your master's message ? " he said, turning towards the
Wallachian.
" He sends his respects, and bids you be on your
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378 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
guard against Tokoly, for he has a large army and
is very crafty ; but instead of opposing him in the
direction of Wallachia you would do better if you
saw to it that he did not break into Transylvania,
and you ought to beware of this all the more as
only three days ago he departed from the main host
along with his chief Sirdar, with a picked army of
six thousand men, which has since vanished as
completely as if the earth had swallowed it up."
"What did I say?" remarked Heissler, with a
smile to Teleki. " You may go back, my son, from
whence you came/ 9 he said to the Szekler.
But Teleki shook his head at this.
u It is quite possible," said he, " that while we are
halting here, Tokoly may issue forth somewhere
behind our very backs."
Heissler pointed at the snow-capped mountains.
" Can anything but a bird get through those ? "
"If Tokoly lead the way — yes."
"Your Excellency has a great respect for that
gentleman."
"Truly, Mr. General, I should advise you to
summon hither the regiments left at the iron gate,
and bring up some more cannons."
Heissler did not even reply, but beckoned to him
to be silent
At that instant a wild yell suddenly struck upon
the ear of the general, and looking back towards
Zernyest he saw a large column of smoke rising
heavenwards* while the outposts came galloping up
towards the camp.
"What is that?"
" Tokoly has got through the mountains ! " was the
terrifying report, " the Tartars have burnt Tohiir and
plundered the camp."
" To horse, to arms, every man 1 " roared Heissler,
and drawing his sword leaped upon his horse.
Doria, Noscher, and Magni quickly marshalled their
squadrons, Macskdri quickly got together his
squadrons, and descended into the plain.
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THE LAST DAY. 379
They had scarce got into battle array when they
were joined by the boyar Balacs&n, the refugee
Moldavian nobleman, who kept on foot two regiments
of the Hungarians and Wallachians at his own
expense.
The cry of the ravaging Tartars was now audible
close at hand in the village of Tohdir, which was
blazing away under the very eyes of the Tran-
sylvanian hosts. Balacsdn's soldiers, eager for the
fray, begged leave of Heissler to drive them from
the village, and rushing upon them with a wild yell,
quickly drove the Tartars back through the burning
streets ; while Heissler, with the main body of the
army, galloped towards Zernyest with the greatest
haste. He also succeeded in occupying it before
Tokoly had reached it
Here the soldiers rested after their tiring gallop.
Heissler distributed wine and brandy among them,
then marshalled them, and sent to the front the
military chaplains. Two Jesuits, crucifix in hand,
confessed all the German soldiers, and the Rev. Mr.
Gernyeszeg preached a pious discourse to the
Calvinists.
Meanwhile Tokoly's army had advanced upon
Zernyest. On one side of him were the snowy Alps,
on the other a reed-grown morass, which in the hot
days of August was quite dried up and could easily
be crossed.
As soon as the Szeklers saw the Turks, with their
characteristic pigheadedness they seized their pikes
and would have rushed upon them with their usual
war-cry : " Jesus ! Help, Jesus ! Help ! n
Their leaders drove them back by beating them
with their sword-blades, and exhausted the whole
vocabulary of abuse and condemnation before they
could prevent them prematurely from beginning the
battle.
Teleki meanwhile summoned to his side his trusty
servant, and as he was dressed in a black habit — for
they were still in mourning for the Prince — with few
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380 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH,
jewels on it, he detached his diamond aigrette and
gold chain, and adding his signet-ring to them, gave
them to the servant that he might take them before
the battle to Gernyeszeg, and give them to his
daughter, Dame Michael Vay.
The old servant would have asked why he did this,
but Teleki turned away from him and beckoned him
to go away.
Then he had his favourite charger, KAlmin, brought
forth, and after stroking its neck tenderly, trotted off
to the front of his forces and addressed them in these
words :
u My brave Transylvanians, now is the time to fight
together valiantly for glory and liberty in the service
of his Imperial Majesty in order to deliver our
country, our wives and children, from Turkish bond-
age and the tyranny of that evil ally of theirs,
Tokoly, for otherwise you and your descendants have
nought but eternal slavery to expect. Grieve not for
me if I, your general, fall on the field of battle.
Behold, I bring my white beard among you, and am
ready to die."
While he was saying these words his adjutant,
Macskiri, came to him and began to explain that
the Transylvanians had been placed in the rear and
were grumbling loudly at having been so set aside.
On hearing this Teleki at once galloped up to
Heissler.
"Sir," said he, "you are a bad judge of the
Hungarian temperament in warfare if you place them
in the rear; the Szekler, in particular, has a great
aptitude for the assault, but don't expect help from
him if you keep him waiting in the rear till the front
ranks are broken."
Generals, on the eve of a battle are, very naturally,
somewhat impatient of advice, especially if it be
delivered by a civilian. Heissler therefore snubbed
the minister somewhat unmercifully, whereupon
Teleki galloped back to his men without saying
another word.
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THE LAST DAY. 381
Meanwhile the Turkish army had slowly begun
to move; on the left wing a regiment of Tartars
stealthily entered the reeds of the morass and began
to surround the right wing of the Transylvanians ; but
their experienced general, perceiving their approach
from the undulatory movement of the reed-stalks,
speedily ordered Doria to advance against them with
six squadrons of dragoons, whereupon Teleki also
sent thirteen regiments of Szeklers against them
under Michael Henter, and soon the two stealthily
crouching hosts could be seen in collision. The
Szeklers, with a wild yell, rushed upon the Tartars,
who turned tail after the first onset, and fled still
deeper among the reeds. Doria pursued them every-
where, the discharge of the artillery fired the reeds in
several places, and they began to burn over the heads
of the combatants.
At that moment Tokoly suddenly blew the
trumpets and advanced into the plain with thirty-
two squadrons, who rushed upon the foe with a sky-
rending howl. There was a roll of musketry as the
assailants drew near, and nine of the thirty-two
squadrons bit the dust, hundreds of riders fell from
their horses.
But the rest did not turn back as they used to do.
Feriz Beg was leading them, they saw his sword
flashing in front of them, and felt sure of victory.
At the moment of the firing a bullet had struck
the youth in the breast ; but he regarded it not, he
only saw Teleki before him, dressed in black. He
recognised him from afar, and galloped straight
towards him.
Beneath the savage assault of the Turkish horse-
men the German dragoons gave way in a moment,
their ranks were scattered ; against the slim darts of
the Spahis and the light csakanyis of the hussars
the straight sword and the heavy cuirass were but a
poor defence. The first line was cast back upon the
second, and when General Noscher was struck down
by a dart in the forehead, the centre also was broken.
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382 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
The Szeklers simply looked on at the battle from
the rear.
"What think you, comrades," they said to one
another, u if they only brought us here to look on,
wouldn't it be better to look on from yonder hill ? "
And with that they shouldered their pikes, and
without doing the slightest harm to the Turks, went
off in a body.
The cavalry, who still had some stomach in them,
on perceiving the flight of the infantry, also suddenly
lost heart, and giving their horses the reins, scampered
off in every direction.
Heissler thus was left alone on the battle-field, and
up to the last moment strenuously endeavoured to
retrieve the fortunes of the day. All in vain.
Balacsdn fell before his very eyes on the left wing,
and shortly afterwards, General Magni staggered
towards him scarce recognisable, for he had a fearful
slash right across his head, which covered his face
with blood, and his left arm was pierced by a dart.
It was not about himself that he was anxious,
however, for he grasped Heissler's bridle and dragged
him away.
Heissler, full of desperation, fought against his own
men, who carried him from the field by force. At
last he reached the top of a hillock and, looking back,
perceived one division still fighting on the battlefield.
It was the picked division of Doria who, in its pursuit
of the Tartars, had been cut off from the rest of the
army, and seeing that it was isolated had hastily
formed into a square and stood against the whole of
the victorious host, fighting obstinately and refusing
to surrender. This was too much for Heissler. He
tore himself loose from his escort, and returned alone
to the battlefield. A few stray horsemen followed
him, and he tried to cut his way to Doria through
the intervening hussars.
A tall and handsome cavalier intercepted him.
" Surrender, general, it is no shame to you. I am
Emeric Tokdly."
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THE LAST DAY. 383
Heissler returned no answer but galloped straight
at him, and, whirling his sword above his head, aimed
a blow at the Hungarian leader.
Tokoly called to those around him to stand back.
Alone he fought against so worthy an enemy till a
violent blow broke in twain the sword of the German
general, and he was obliged to surrender.
Meanwhile Doria's division was overborne by
superior forces; he himself fell beneath his horse,
which was shot under him, and was taken prisoner.
The rest fled.
Michael Teleki fled likewise, trusting in his good
steed K&lmin. He heard behind him the cries of his
pursuers ; there was one form in particular that he
did not wish to have behind him, and it seemed to
Teleki as if he were about to see this form.
This was the chief sirdar, Feriz Beg. Mortally
wounded though he was, he did not forget his mortal
anger, and though his blood flowed in streams, he
still felt strength enough in his arm to shed the blood
of his enemy.
Suddenly Michael directed his flight towards a field
of wheat, when his horse stumbled and fell with him.
Here Feriz Beg overtook the minister, and whirling
around his sword, exclaimed :
" That blow is from Denis Banfy ! "
Teleki raised his sword to defend himself, but at
that name his hand shook and he received a slash
across the face, whereupon his sword fell from his
hand ; but he still held his hand before his streaming
eyes and only heard these words :
"This blow is for Paul B&di! This blow is for
the children of Paul Blldi! This blow is for
Transylvania ! "
That last blow was the heaviest of all !
Teleki sank down on the ground a corpse.
Feriz Beg gazed upwards with a look of transport,
sighed deeply, and then drooped suddenly over his
horse's neck. He was dead
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384 THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH.
Next day when they found Teleki among the slain,
and brought him to Tokoly, the young Prince cried :
" Heh 1 bald head ! bald head ! if you had never
lived in Transylvania so much blood would not have
flowed here."
Thus the prophecy of Magyari was fulfilled.
Then Tokoly ordered the naked, plundered corpse
to be clothed in garments of his own and sent to his
widow at Gorgdncy.
In exchange for the captured generals, Heissler
and Doria, Tokoly got back his wife Helen. This
was his greatest gain from the war.
Both of them now sleep far away from their native
land in the valley of Nicomedia.
THE ENIX
Jarrold and Sons, Limited, The Empire Press, Norwich*
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GRADUATE LIBRARY
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